Until I met you is the preface for sharing how something or someone has influenced you. I have used it several times and I've had people use it when talking with me. It sounds like this.
Until I met you I thought you were stuck up. :-)
Until I met you I never knew what love was really like.
I was about to give up until I met you.
Until I met you I thought ________ you fill in the blank now.
I have heard these statements a lot of times. One night I remember very well. I was a young preacher's wife and was invited to another church for a women's fellowship. It was a great time and we were laughing and sharing and right smack dab in the middle of it this other preacher's wife says, "Until I met you tonight, I thought you were stuck up!" Talk about a show stopper. If I would have had false teeth, I would have swallowed them. It was really silent all of a sudden. All I could think to say was, "I'm sorry." Every laughed and we began talking about how crazy first impressions can be.
I've also made these "Until I met" you comments. It's incredible how our past influences our future. The life experiences we've had. The culture we are from. The area of the world we grew up in. The type of church we were raised in. The people that have passed through our lives. The education we've had. The places we've visited. The choices we've made.
All these things impact and mold who we are. Who we are impacts and molds those around us. You see, it goes both ways. That thing called influence is invisible yet so powerful that it both affects and effects your world.
May and June are the months we celebrate mothers and fathers and it's a wonderful time. These people have the most powerful influences in our lives. Especially since they raise us through the first few years of our lives. But never underestimate your power to influence those around you. You can either reinforce a persons past or you can influence them to change.
Change is hard. Changing someone's belief, who grew up in the Chicago land area, that the Cubs are better than the White Sox is not possible. But changing someone's belief that you are fun to be around, or that honesty is always the best policy, or that living for Jesus Christ is the best thing in the whole world is possible.
I think The Message version of Matthew 5:13 - 16 says it best of all......................
13"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
14-16"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."
Salt and Light. The two things that are pretty essential to our American way of life. It's also essential to a Christian's life. I will even say that if you become salt and light in your world, people will say......."Until I met you, I didn't know how much I needed Jesus in my life."
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