Since beginning my podcast, I have had to think a good bit about “my audience” and how much I invite my readers and listeners into my life and world.

This past week, I went to complete my MSW Licensure paperwork and saw this poem posted on the wall of the DPS worker’s desk.  She’s a pro at people asking for copies and had one ready for me to take (Thanks Ms. Nancy!).  The author is unknown, but I wanted to share here on the blog.

If you’ve been reading or listening to me for any measure of time, you know how I feel about friendships and associations.  This hits the nail on the head.

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Invite Your Audience Carefully

Not everyone is spiritually healthy and mature enough to have a front row seat in our lives. There are some people in your life who need to be loved from a distance.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you let go, or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships, friendships, fellowships.

Observe the relationships around you.

Pay attention to:

Which ones lift and which ones lean?
Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?
Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill?
When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse?
Which ones always have drama or don’t really understand, know and appreciate you and the gift that lies within you?

When you seek growth, peace of mind, love and truth, the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

You cannot change the people around you, but you can change the people you are around.

Remember that the people we hang out with will ultimately have an impact on both our lives and our income, so we must be careful to choose the people we associate with as well as the information we feed our minds.  We should not share our dreams with negative people nor feed our dreams with negative thoughts.

It’s your choice and your life.

It’s up to you who and what you let in it.

Ask God for godly wisdom and discernment, and choose wisely the people who sit in the front row of your life.

– Author Unknown

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Scriptures to Meditate On:

Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 13:20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

Colossians 3:16  Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

1 John 4:1  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Proverbs 2:1-5 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.