Our top priority ought to drive us. Jesus noticed a problem with the priorities of His followers. Their top priority was being eroded by mundane problems and worries. Jesus prescribed their top priority this way:
“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ...But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:31-33).
We tore the sheets off the bed, shined flashlights under tables and chairs, even dug through the kitchen silverware drawers looking for one of our most valuable possessions. It seemed to have vanished. Not more than thirty minutes earlier, my husband Jim held his left hand up to show me his loose wedding ring and then turned his fingers toward the floor. I watched the band slide off his finger and into the palm of his other hand. “You might want to get that sized,” I said.
Worry and anxiety can stifle the effectiveness of the best leader. In my life, when anxiety gets the best of me, my leadership always suffers. So what goes on in the mind of a leader when he or she worries and what can we do about it? Consider these suggestions.
When we feel anxious, a process in our brain starts because God created our brains to help us survive. When we feel threatened and anxious from a roar we hear outside our tent while camping or from a roar from a nasty email, it initiates a flight-fight response in our bodies.
Oh, look at the eagle! It’s so quiet and peaceful, I could drift along for hours.”
“Hey! What are you doing back there! We’re all supposed to be paddling. No wonder it seemed like we were doing all the work!”
Sheepishly I grabbed my paddle and began to dip it into the pristine Alaskan lake, more vigorously each time my husband glanced back to check on me. I’m not usually one to shirk my responsibilities, but I had to admit I was taking advantage of being in the back seat of our three-man kayak.
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on monitoring and controlling movement from one place to another. It may be difficult for our children to believe but navigation systems haven’t always existed. Not that long ago, we could get a trip book from AAA, or we just used maps. Yet, we have become so dependent on technology that many people don’t know how to read a map or navigate. Our dependency on technology is so great that the military has recognized the need for navigation training.
We’ve been engaged in a season of change. This constant change, though it’s mostly good, has worn at us till our positivity has begun to fray.
You’ve been to that crumbling edge, haven’t you?
Not enough good sleep. A tickle that blossoms into a hacking cough. Too much fast food, and fast talking with not enough deep conversation about what’s important. The challenge of teammates who’ve misplaced the mission, the hassle of technology gone awry, and endlessly shifting expectations and reactions. It’s not all bad. Not really. But it does stretch leadership engagement.
“In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Thanksgiving has come and gone. For some, the time to be grateful will come again next year. For me every day is Thanksgiving. There is a lot of empirical research that shows being constantly grateful is a better way to live.
In 2001, shortly after the 911 terrorist attacks, a man named Allen Kay was inspired to take action and see if he could help prevent another disaster from occurring. Mr.
“Let’s clap for Mom for a wonderful meal!”
Our youngest, just a baby in the high chair, joined his older siblings for an enthusiastic acclamation of my dinner. My husband started this tradition when our oldest daughter was that little diner with a food-smeared bib. She couldn’t express with words her appreciation for the food served to her. But he knew that she had learned to “patty cake” and would quickly join in to applaud her mother.
“When can we open our presents?” my eight-year old daughter asked. “Only seven more sleeps,” I said. I’d been teaching my children to be patient through a special ‘finding the baby Jesus’ hide and seek game we played each morning before I sent them off to school. They were looking forward to opening their gifts and daily anticipated the arrival of Jesus’ birthday. Maybe you, too, are looking forward to something, as you await the arrival of company to join in your holiday festivities, school to be on break or to unwrap presents placed under the Christmas tree.
