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You Underestimate Your Influence


This weekend, Don Flora, a man from my childhood church congregation, passed away. As one of the kindest men I’ve ever met, he was truly a “light to the world” (see Matt 5:14-16) because he had a gift for brightening people’s day. For me in particular, he played a huge role in the development of my musical talents.

You see, when I first became interested in singing I decided to join our congregation choir. In my church all local positions are filled by volunteers, so even though I had very little experience in reading choir music, I was a welcome addition. Fortunately, I had the privilege of sitting next to Brother Flora.

Initially, I learned the music by imitating and memorizing what he did, but also along the way he taught me about crescendos, firmadas, when to breathe, and a host of other things a good choir member should know. I took what I learned from Brother Flora and sang in a county youth choir, all-state high school choir, a high school choir that toured Europe, and UVU Chamber Choir, among many others.

His influence didn’t stop there. He continued to encourage me as I starting singing solos at various events around our small community. Later, after I moved away to go to school and begin my professional career, he would often approach me in my visits back home and ask about my continued singing. In fact, the last time I spoke to him was after singing in my parent’s congregation, and he told me that I sang like Perry Como (I don’t, but I was flattered to hear him say it).

As I thought about what he meant to me over the weekend, I realized that he probably never knew the great influence he had on me. I regret that I never expressed my gratitude while he was alive, but I’ve also come to realize that very often, we never fully realize the impact we can have on other people’s lives. We not only fail to understand the impact we have on the people we have contact with, we also fail to grasp the chain effect of those interactions. As I am now a father, I am able to share my love of music with my children, and who knows what they will do with it.

So in the end, I hope we can all try to be a bit more like Brother Flora. Let’s be a light to others by simply being kind and helpful to those around us. You never know how far that light will shine.

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