By Andrea Merrell
“Stay away from that girl. She’s a bad influence
on you,” my grandmother used to say from time to time when I was growing up.
She meant well and was trying to protect me, but I never could figure out her
criteria for “bad influence.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t always heed her advice—which
was usually correct. Even as an adult, I've occasionally found myself connected
with the wrong crowd.
According to Bob Gass, there are two groups of people
we should never allow into our lives:
The first is composed of
VNP people: very needy people, very negative people, and very needling people.
The second contains VDP people: very draining people, very doubting people, and
very distracting people.
Gass says we should love, help, and encourage them
however we can but never allow them to influence or lead us.
Relationships are important. The wrong ones can
pull us down and keep us in a constant state of turmoil. The right ones will
lift us up, believe the best in us, speak words of truth into our life, and
stand with us no matter what comes our way. There is nothing better than a
God-ordained friendship.
Take a look around. Who’s influencing you?
