I was blessed with a great father. My parents were both older when I was born, I was a surprise and an only child. Neither one of my parents had a college education; my mother had a high school diploma and my father had an eighth-grade education. He was a construction worker during my growing up years but had been a long-haul truck driver, covering the north/south route from Maine to Florida for a national food distributor.
I’m not often tempted to pat myself on the back. At my age, I know know better. It would make my shoulder hurt. (Don’t ask me how I know that.)
Nonetheless, if I’m ever tempted to try – again – another simple but painful experience, God should deliver me from the temptation.
Despite more than a decade devoted to teaching people how to Lead Like Jesus, when it comes to me being a Jesus-like leader myself, I’m not there … yet.
How do I know? Here’s the backstory.
Compassionate leader
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
“You can choose one of these three outfits.” I calmly told my three year old what her options were for church attire. I wasn’t as concerned about her appearance during the week, especially if we weren’t venturing from the house. But heads would turn if I allowed her to select her church outfit. Having a choice was the battle, and I gave her that choice… within limits.
You’ve failed. Again. It’s time to reorganize. Start over. Begin again. Use a fresh approach, a new strategy. When you are discouraged, it’s probably not that you are doing the wrong thing, but you might be doing it in the wrong way. Our natural temptation is to give up on our dream. We think, “Maybe God didn’t give me this dream in the first place.” No, it’s probably just the opposite. However, it might be time to expand your vision and ask God to give you new ways of thinking.
I grew up with a father and a brother who were both avid golfers. My father attempted to teach me the game as well. I caught on but not to the extent that my brother did. I played more for fun than for competition. Now that I am much older, I decided that golf would be a good hobby since my children are grown and I needed something to do with all that time that was spent raising children! My husband and I play about once a week, weather permitting. As I have watched and played golf over the years, I’ve seen several leadership lessons that can be learned from the game of golf.
Summer typically signals the end of the school year. We plan time to vacation, visit families, travel to amusement or national parks, barbeques or maybe head to the beach. It may also be the time when our spiritual lives plateau. Like any fitness or exercise program, we need a spiritual wellness plan to remain active and avoid plateauing.
I’ve been thinking about events in my life recently and the impact they’ve had on who I’ve become as an adult.
Dictionary.com describes a defining moment as an event which typifies or determines all subsequent related occurrences; a point at which the essential nature or character of a person, group, etc., is revealed or identified.
A couple of years ago I was leading a Ministry Formation class on leadership when someone asked me: “What is the most difficult thing about helping people to become Jesus-like leaders?”
My brain told me I needed a moment to think about that. But my mouth blurted out an answer.
“Getting people to realize and appreciate that God really does love them unconditionally.”
And there it was. Out in front of God and everybody – or at least in front of the 25 or so people in the room.
A couple of years ago 65 leaders from Southern Ontario attended our first annual Nfluence conference at West Park Church, London. It was a great time to learn from three seasoned pastors, Dr. Dom Ruso, Steve Adams, and myself. In one session Dom explained how to empower the next generation. One insight he shared that particularly struck me was this.
