On Influence

I heard a message preached from the Bible tonight about how we regard our influence on others.  Do we esteem our influence highly and remain humble that we might have a genuine affect on others?  Or do we walk through life not really caring what others think, thus not having to really care about what we do?  Tempted as I am to shirk the responsibility and not admit that my life actually influences others, I realize that being a teacher has one of the greatest impacts on our students.  I've heard of students who tell their piano teacher things their parents don't even know.  All of this got me thinking about what influence each of my students has as a musician on others.... how does their music affect the listener.  I don't really mean the song itself, but what does it reflect about their character that sets an example others may follow.  Does their playing say "I love this ability God has given me," or "I could care less about developing this skill;" "A little more practice and I'll get this right," or "Who has time to play piano this week?!"  Does it say "I hope this music draws my listener closer to the Lord," or "When is this going to be over..?"  I hope to challenge some of my piano students, and perhaps some of the young people in our youth choir, to really consider the heart behind what their doing.  It's not always about playing great, but also remembering that others are watching us, and what we do reflects how important the Greatest One we're doing this all for really is to us.