Who is watching?

I hope that I can be aware this year of who is watching me.  I know that God is always watching me even though I don't always live like I know that.  I cringe when I think about how I reacted in certain situations.  I certainly did not act like I knew God was watching me.  My body language, the things that came out of my mouth, my attitude certainly did not represent Christ in a positive way.  I reacted to the frustration of the moment instead of stepping back and composing myself before I opened my mouth.  For the ones who took the brunt of those outburst, I can only imagine what they thought of me. 

This idea really came home to me yesterday.  I was in a setting where I only knew the people I was with.  I was in a huge crowd that was quite rowdy and honestly quite rude.  I thought to myself they have no idea the impressions that they were making on those of us who were observing them. They might be fellow Christians, they might be really kind and caring people, but because of their behavior, they will be remembered as being crass, disrespectful, and rude.

It doesn't matter where we are,  someone is always watching us, and we are leaving either a positive impression or a negative.  You might say, "What difference does it make what someone else thinks?"  But if we are to be a lights in this dark world and if we are to be ambassadors for Christ, shouldn't we be cognizant of what lasting imprint we might be leaving?

Think about your encounters with people at the grocery store.  What did you think when you saw a mom who yelled at her kids, the person in front of you who was unkind to the cashier, the child that was disrespectful to his/her mother, or the dad that spanked the crying child for crying?  We all have been witnesses to acts like these, and right or wrong, we formed some kind of an opinion about the people involved.

This year as I live out OYTL, I want to have a constant awareness that someone is watching me.  I want that to radically impact how I act and react publically and privately because, afterall, God is constantly watching over everything I do.

Blessings,