“Everybody follows somebody. All of us make decisions every day about what is important, how to treat people, and what to do with our lives. These decisions come from what we believe about every aspect of our existence. And we got our beliefs from somewhere. We have been formed, every one of us, by this complicated mix of people and places and things. Parents and teachers and artists and scientists and mentors – we are each taking all of these influences and living our lives according to which teachings we have made our own. Some insist that they aren’t influenced by any person or any religion, that they think for themselves. And that’s an honorable perspective. The problem is they got that perspective from…somebody. They’re following somebody even if they insist it is themselves they are following.
Everybody is following somebody. Everybody has faith in something and somebody.”
-Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis
As I was contemplating this reading the other day, I was struck by two thoughts: The first was the obvious choice – Who am I following? I think the important thing is to realize that my daily decisions are shaped by my belief systems, or rather that my decision should be based off these beliefs. Sometimes I get caught in the material world, and I follow my friends. Sometimes I get caught in the competitive world, and I follow my coworkers. Sometimes I get caught in the realm of marriage, and I follow my husband. Sometimes I am caring, passionate, and patient, and I follow my sister. But sometimes with all this following of different people all the time, I get lost somewhere along the way. Then I ask myself, Who do I want to follow? That answer is easy – Jesus. The most difficult question to answer, however, is how to I switch who I want follow into who I am following?
The answer I arrived at? Follow each individual foot step, one by one, until I get to the final destination. Sometimes I can see the summit of the mountain I am trying to climb, but when I start hiking up, I get lost on paths that detour me. I forget to follow the markers. I forget that in order to reach that summit, I need stay the course. Each daily decision I make needs to reflect my ideals and beliefs, and not just be a decision out of necessity.
The second part of my reflection: Who is following me? When I look around, if everyone is following someone, then it is inherent that sometime there will be people following me. Maybe not all the time, but I am sure that I affect people in my life at some point or another – setting an example with life. My kids, my husband, my siblings, my coworkers, my friends – the way I choose to live my life could potentially affect any or all of these people. So, then the question that comes next is: Am I worthy of being followed?
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and I have no desire to lay out all of mine right now. However, I leave you with the challenge to reflect on these two questions for yourself: 1) Who are you following? 2) Are you leading a life that is worthy of being followed?
