Fred Smith once said, “There are two kinds of people in any organization: polluters and purifiers.” Several things on a team are not contagious: talent; experience; diligence. But you can bet that attitude is contagious.
Polluters are like smokestacks, belching out dirty smoke all the time. They hate clear skies and no matter how clear the air is, they can find a way to poison it with gloom. People who have to work around polluters must breathe in their toxic refuse and they usually feel sicker and weaker for it.
Purifiers, on the other hand, seem to clear the air around them. No matter how rotten the atmosphere, they seem to find a way to filter out the toxins. And they filter their own words and attitudes before letting others breathe them in so that anything that pollutes is filtered out and only what purifies is heard. They can receive polluted air, but somehow they seem to breathe it back out as purified air.
So when others are around you, do they walk away sick and weak or energized? Are you an air-clearer or an air-killer? Most people tend to assume the attitudes of those they are forced to work with.
“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption”(Ephesians 4:29-30).
Here’s to purifiers!
