“…unexpected people can find things that have always been in front of us but once they show them to us, they change the way we look at the world around us forever.”

Tom Mustill.

I heard the following quote during an interview with biologist-turned-nature-documentarian, Tom Mustill on NPR’s The Pulse. * He was telling the story of the Dutch tradesman Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) who, though he had no fortune or university training, discovered bacteria and discovered the world of microbiology. The resources van Leeuwenhoek did have were curiosity and the desire to tell others of what he found: “. . . my work, which I've done for a long time, was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly from a craving after knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men. And therewithal, whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof.” Antony van Leeuwenhoek. Letter of June 12, 1716.*

Knowing that there were living organisms in pond water, changed the definition of what was life and how life originated (no longer did small organisms, like fleas just spontaneously spring forth). I think of how microbiology changed the course of water management, diseases, disease management and even today’s understanding of DNA and nanotechnology.

I have thought about how true the quote is, both in global ways but also in our regular, ordinary ways- How those around us can inadvertently change our views. In our family of origin, we first view the world through the lens of our parents and immediate family. It is as we become our own person, that we experience or hear others’ thoughts: neighbors, teachers, peers, co-workers. Their testimony to what they know shapes and challenges our understanding. I think of a dear tennis friend who, in our discussions of race, helped me come to a more open understanding of the way I see the world. (While I think no one is ordinary), my friend, an ordinary person, has changed my outlook. As with all ideas, once expressed and latched onto, it is hard to reverse one’s thoughts to a time before knowing.

At Sunday’s church service, the sermon was entitled, “You are Someone’s Destiny”. The thought that we do have influence over other people, certainly by what we say and do. Unless you live on a deserted island with no one around, we live in community. Even if we live alone, we are rubbing shoulders with someone- the delivery person, the cashier, or the telephone tech support person. While some might have a larger community base than others, we still interact with people. That interaction, whether we recognize it or not influences our thoughts.

In the introduction of a journal article for the American Psychological Society, Brain Basis of Human Social Interaction, the researchers note: “In the African Bantu language, the word ubuntu means that a person becomes a person only through other people (interview of Desmond Tutu, New Scientist, April 2006). Neuroscientists do agree: humans and their brains and minds are shaped, and normally function, in continuous interaction with other people.” *

In the Christian tradition- we are called to be someone’s destiny through our testimony- telling how God has worked in our lives- how we lived and thought before we were conscious of God and how He is currently working: namely, that with God our lives have been changed for the better. Without God our lives are dead- stagnate, no change, heading on a course of self-destruction. Of course, the rub has been the definition of “for the better” because just because one has had one’s life changed with God, doesn’t mean life is now without problems or struggles. In fact, there might be even more so. The difference is that the one who trusts in God and His control over one’s life, does have a different way of viewing and reacting to that struggle. Most times, it is in the telling of that struggle that helps the listener view the world and our response. Many times remembering the past and God’s intervention, helps, blesses and changes the way we see the present and the future.

What about you? Has anyone influenced you through his/her story? Have you ever been exposed to new ideas? What were they? How did that (or did it) impact you and your future?

It is in the sharing of our lives and our stories that can impact how another person will react or behave in a likewise situation: their lives and subsequent response to life’s journey may be changed forever.

Read/listen to the following articles: *https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381443461/the-pulse *https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html [Having re-read the quote by Leeuwenhoek, it does strike me that, either he was a very humble but self-assured man or he was insufferable- one big know-it-all and had to tell everyone about it!]. *https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physrev.00041.2007

News:

While I cannot say that I am completely back from our move (still have many projects yet ahead), I am planning to return to some type of schedule. On that note, I will be returning to Wednesdays at the Well- posting the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month. Please sign up to receive notification in your email or try to remember to check-in @ www.wellofencouragement.com.

Guideposts 2023 All God’s Creatures Devotionals are now on sale. I have been honored to have 8 devotionals included this year. https://www.shopguideposts.org/all-gods-creatures-daily-devotions-2023.html?utm_campaign=&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_term=.

Guideposts is also coming out with some new thematic books of which some of my stories have been included. Will keep you posted when they are published.