Everyone Can't Be In Your Front Row

I've been reading a career-related  self-help book lately ("Endless Referrals" by Bob Burg). Some of the ideas I can wrap my head around, but many of them just don't sound like "me". You know what I mean? Too salesy and scripty (is that a word??). But this morning as I was merrily reading along, taking notes and figuring out what fit my way of doing business and what I should file away under "Not My Style", I came upon page 215, paragraph 5. To paraphrase:

"...we become like the people with whom we associate."

I love that! I have something hanging on my wall next to my desk, introduced to me by my daughter's boyfriend's mother. I'd like to repeat it here...as a reminder to us all that we are the only ones we can control...and we should choose our 'associates' wisely:

Everyone Can’t Be In Your Front Row
 

Life is a theater so invite your audiences carefully. Not everyone is holy enough and healthy enough to have a FRONT ROW seat in our lives. There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you let go, or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships, friendships, fellowships, and family!  

Everyone Can’t Be in Your FRONT ROW
 

Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention to: Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?  Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are just going downhill? When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse?
 

Everyone Can’t Be in Your FRONT ROW  
 

The more you seek God and the things of God, the more you seek quality, the more you seek not just the hand of God but the face of God, the more you seek things honorable, the more you seek growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you, the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the FRONT ROW and who should be moved to the BALCONY of your life.
 

Everyone Can’t Be in Your FRONT ROW
  

You cannot change the people around you…but you can change the people you are around! Ask God for wisdom and discernment and choose wisely the people who sit in the FRONT ROW of your life.

Remember that FRONT ROW seats are for special and deserving people and

those who sit in Your FRONT ROW should be chosen carefully.
 

Everyone Can’t Be in Your FRONT ROW
 

– Author Unknown