“I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.”
- 1 Corinthians 1:4
I love ESPN’s Top 10 Plays of the Day. There’s something about sports highlights that makes me want to lace up the shoes and put on the jersey again! Even though ESPN’s is my favorite Top 10 list, there are many others out there. Certainly, David Letterman made it famous with his comical late-night list. But did you know that God created the original Top 10 list a long time ago? It’s called the Ten Commandments.
At the end of last year, I was inspired to create my own Top 10 list, but it wasn’t like the others. This list focused on meaningful relationships that had made a significant impact on my life. I’d had exactly 365 days during the year to improve, grow, learn and get stretched, and as I considered what changes had taken place in my life, I realized I hadn’t done it on my own. It had taken a host of other people who had invested in me and influenced me along the way. And after realizing that it was the power of others that had made the most significant difference in my life, I developed my Top 10 list of people who had impacted my life over the past year.
I love the quote, “You can impress people from a distance, but you can only impact them close up.” It’s easy to impress, but hard to impact, isn’t it? That takes time, effort and intentionality. Through the process of creating my list, I actually was also able to evaluate my own life and ask myself if I had lived in such a way as to make the Top 10 list of others. Had I been intentional about investing in others in a significant way? Was I doing everything I could to be a blessing to them?
As athletes and coaches, we understand that each of us has great capacity to impact and influence others. What better day to start doing this than today? It’s time for us to aim to be a Top 10 in someone’s life. God placed us here to make a difference in the lives of others, just as they make a difference for us. And in those relationships is where the true life-change happens, both for us and for them.
So, what are you waiting for? Go and be used by God to be a difference-maker, and thank those who have invested in you!
1. Create Space: Spend some time praying and ask the Lord to bring people to your mind who have impacted you in the past year.
2. Grab a Pen: Write a Top 10 list of your own, but don’t worry about ranking them.
3. Shout Out: Bless the people you listed by calling or emailing them to let them know that they made the list and why they made it!
Numbers 6:24-26
Romans 1:8
2 Corinthians 9:13-14
2 Timothy 1:3
“Father, thank You for placing others in my path to bless, encourage and guide me. I pray that You would use me to do the same for others. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.”
