Here's a dozen of my favorite things never to apologize for:
1) Never apologize for acting on your instincts.
2) Never apologize for being passionate.
3) Never apologize for being smart.
4) Never apologize for demanding respect.
5) Never apologize for saying no.
6) Never apologize for not embracing someone else's agenda.
7) Never apologize for disagreeing.
8) Never apologize for your faith.
9) Never apologize for your own sense of creativity.
10) Never apologize for ordering dessert.
11) Never apologize for being funny.
12) Never apologize for living your truth.
Every one of us casts a shadow.
There hangs about us, a sort of a strange, indefinable something, which we call personal influence--that has its effect on every other life on which it falls. It goes with us wherever we go. It is not something we can have when we want to have it--and then lay aside when we will, as we lay aside a garment. It is something that always pours out from our lives . . . as light from a lamp, as heat from flame, as perfume from a flower.
The ministry of personal influence is something very wonderful. Without being conscious of it, we are always impressing others by this strange power that exudes from us. Others watch us--and their thinking and actions are modified by our influence."
"Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity." Ephesians 5:15-16
~J. R. Miller, "The Shadows We Cast"
