Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Life is a Theatre...Invite Your Audience Carefully

When I started realizing the powerful effect the people with whom I hang have on my life and my future, I became purposeful about my association. Not an easy process. Certainly sometimes painful. Just the same, necessary.

I came across this anonymously-written piece over a decade ago. And perhaps because of my theatre background, it is in language I  understand. Of how and why I must be intentional about where I let people "sit" in my life.

~ Life is a Theatre...Invite Your Audience Carefully~

Not everyone is mentally healthy enough to have a front row seat in your life.
There are some people who need to be loved from a distance.
It is amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of - or minimize your time with - those draining, negative, incompatible, 'not-going- anywhere' relationships or friendships.

Observe the relationships around you.
Pay close attention...
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 or appreciate you? 

The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you, 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.

Ask for wisdom and discernment, and choose wisely the people who will sit in the front row of your life.
You cannot change the people around you, but you can change the people you choose to be around.
Who is in your front row?

2 comments:

Kyle said...

Specifically, I would keep the people holding tomatoes out of the front row....if they sit further back, I should at least have time to dodge the lycopene-rich projectile. :)

Glenda said...

There's some real truth to that, Bridgett! In your analogy, those we minister to might be seated in the side sections --- close enough to impact, but not eclipsing our entire field of vision. Always keeping perspective...