INFLUENCE INSTEAD OF IMPACT

The work of taking spiritual and social responsibility of a specific geography is slow and hidden work. It will go unseen for days, month, and even years. It is not immediate. It requires a rootedness that occurs slowly under the surface over many seasons. It is cultivated by being a faithful presence with families, civic leaders, neighborhood schools, and local businesses.

In his book, The Life We’re Looking For, Andy Crouch offers a challenging invitation. Our desire to make an impact as both individuals and organizations may be misplaced. Or, at minimum, our vocabulary may need correction. The word “impact” until recently had a common understanding as an outcome from a sudden and often harmful force. The impact of an automobile in an accident, or the impact of a meteor on earth, were sudden, and often violent actions that resulted in catastrophic changes. “Impact” was understood as the sudden force sustained in a short moment in time. Crouch offers another term to consider to our purer and deeper desire.

“Influence” is a force that creates a significant shift over a prolonged period of time. Influence is difficult to measure in the immediate, but undeniable in the outcome. A vineyard is the work of influence over generations. A forgiving and loving community, a faithful and hospitable family, or a durable and generous organization are all the result of the patient power of influence. They cannot be created quickly. They require perseverance.

There are both beautiful and terrible moments that impact our lives. They push or pull us in a certain direction. We often refer to these brief moments as the inflection points in our lives. But, when we consider who we are and who we are becoming, both as individuals and as a community, we see beyond impactful moments to the deeper power of influence.

In a cultural moment of instantaneous and immediate approval, it is counter to the dominant culture to be a leader of influence. But, it is influence that works towards the restoration of the relational, cultural, and spiritual fabric of our neighborhood. It requires trusting in what Teilhard de Chardin called, “the slow work of God”.

Trust in the Slow Work of God

Above all, trust in the slow work of God
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability-
and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you.
your ideas mature gradually – let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.

Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving vine-dresser.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. (1881-1955)