Atmosphere – it’s not just a layer of gases surrounding our planet. It’s an environment, a mood, a setting that deeply impacts our daily lives. The atmosphere sets the tone for our experiences, emotions and interactions. It’s a powerful element that both reflects and shapes the culture of a community, and it’s something we should actively consider in our personal and spiritual lives.
Atmospheres are contagious. Like a strong fragrance, they can fill a room, influencing everyone present. These atmospheres can carry feelings of joy, faith, or even fear. The atmosphere you carry can spread to others, affecting their mood and perspective. The question is: what are you spreading?
Atmospheres are also creative. They have the power to encourage life and growth or to stifle and suppress it. It’s important to understand that the atmosphere of your life – your home, your relationships, your church – matters deeply. It’s consequential and can create things in your life that you may not even be aware of.
Atmospheres are tangible. You can feel them when you walk into a room. You can sense the joy, faith, or fear present. And you carry an atmosphere with you as well. What atmosphere do you carry? What do you contribute?
Atmospheres are personal. You carry an atmosphere, whether you’re aware of it or not. Just as people can tell who you are by the atmosphere you carry, the atmosphere you carry can also reveal who you are with. It’s crucial to be self-aware of the atmosphere you carry and decide what you want to create.
And finally, atmospheres are changeable. If atmospheres are creative, tangible and personal, then they can be changed. You have the power to change the atmosphere around you.
In 2024, let’s take the responsibility to set the atmosphere in our lives. Let’s be thermostats, not just thermometers. Let’s not just read the room but change it. Let’s fill our atmospheres with faith, joy, and love. And let’s remember, the One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world.
Let’s make 2024 a year of contagious, creative, tangible, personal, and changeable atmospheres. Let’s be the change we want to see, carrying the fragrance of Christ wherever we go.
Paul Benger 