Category: Leadership

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Leadership and Trust

I just had another thought, thinking about leadership. It’s trust. I trust You. I do. But I don’t always trust folks. I don’t always trust folks who say they speak for You. I don’t want to be led astray, especially not in Your Name. And I don’t want to do that to anyone else, either. There’s another discomfort with the notion of leadership for me.

That comes back to what we talked about earlier, character. A leader’s heart is a loving heart. As long as you are walking in love, and speaking from love, you never need to worry about leading anyone else astray. And Love is your discernment as well. If you ever wonder if the counsel you are hearing from another is wise, and is right for you, use the love meter. Give it the love test. How does that counsel sit in your spirit? Is it occupying primarily a place of power, where others are forced to go along out of fear? Or is it emanating from love and concern for others? You have learned to measure decisions and weigh courses of action by gauging how peaceful they feel inside you, whether they bring you peace or increase your agitation. You have learned to follow the peace. Use similar assessment skills when someone else is seeking to be a leader in your own life or over your own heart–check their words and actions against what an attitude or action centered in love would look like or sound like. If it aligns, you know the action proposed is wise, and true, and then you can use your peace to determine if it is best for you, and in this time. But if the attitude or action reveals itself to be based in something other than love, such as fear, or pride, or arrogance, or prejudice, then you don’t even have to weight it against peace. It has already failed the love test. First consider love, then consider peace. Lastly consider joy. If whatever action you are contemplating meets all three of these, then you can feel confident about making a decision.

Humans err when they consider what they think is joy first, without regard to either peace or love. That can easily lead to a lifestyle rooted in selfishness. But if you approach your life first from love and next from peace, and lastly from joy, you will overflow with all three and you will not be able to contain all the blessings you will receive–nor will you be able to contain all the blessings you will be moved to give, for your heart and life will overflow toward others. Giving won’t then feel like a sacrifice or a burden, but will become a natural response, a counterpoint rhythm, as you share the many blessings you are receiving. And that, my dear, is leadership in action. Rooted in love, grounded in peace, and expressed in joy.

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Follow the Leader

Leadership. Ah, there’s a word. Lord? I am uncomfortable with that word. Why? I think I believe attention will require me to defend my…position, decisions, beliefs, and I don’t know how to. So I keep quiet and hidden. I need to realize that just because others disagree or are louder than me, that does not automatically make them right and me wrong.

Instead of thinking about information, and amassing a great amount of facts to prove your position or at least to explain the validity of it, think about Love, think about relationship. You can say, I am choosing this path, this way of being in the world, and here is an open invitation to walk alongside me on my journey. I am not looking for a leader, or a counterpoint opinion. I am settled in my decision.

A quiet way, Lord. That’s a quiet way.

Strength doesn’t have to shout. Strength just is.

God, I think a lot of my discomfort stems from the dinner table, growing up. I understand more now, but at the time, the constant debate, and Dad’s need to be right, meant somebody had to be wrong, and somebody was me. It was hard, especially when I had facts to back me up. Are You saying the facts don’t matter?

I Am saying something beyond facts is at stake here. People typically don’t commit their hearts and lives on a set of facts alone. You discern correctly now that your dad, for example, was motivated by something beyond facts, and that was the effect of his own childhood and feeling inferior to his older brothers. A true leader, just like the best teacher, inspires by character, and strength of heart, not rote words–especially not rote words spoken loudly or in anger. That is why Scripture says Jesus surprised so many of the so-called leaders of the day, because He taught with authority.

Isn’t authority knowing you are right?

Do you remember the example you heard years ago, about the difference between power and authority?

Yes, sort of. Something like, a Sheriff had both power and authority–the power was his gun and the authority was his badge.

Yes, and in the best of cases, the authority of the badge would be enough. If authority is respected, there is no need for raw power.

So, Lord, that brings up the question for me–which are You? I mean, You have power. You have authority. When do You use one or the other?

Here is a better question–what do you think motivates Me most?

I would have to say Your Love does. Right?

Yes, exactly. So both My Power and My Authority flow from and are sustained by and expressed through My Love. There are many times I could act from sheer Power, but I refrain, because Love dictates otherwise. There are times that I could thunder with authority, silencing other voices with My Wisdom and My Knowledge, but I remain silent–not out of obstinacy but out of an understanding born of Love’s wisdom that says sometimes humans need to come to the end of their own understanding in order to have an open mind for a greater Truth.

So, You…

So I do what I Am counseling you to do–invite others to walk alongside. Folks can learn a lot by spending time in My company. Folks can learn a lot by spending time with you, too. Your being willing to share yourself, to share your heart and the convictions expressed through a loving life, that’s leadership. That is the best kind of leadership, the kind that inspires by example. To recap, you don’t have to shout. (Please don’t, it doesn’t become you.) You don’t have to persuade (I would much rather you have heartfelt conversations than academically styled debates). You don’t have to coerce anyone to adopt your position, on anything–even Me, even My reality. Just live your life As If. As If I were real, and an integral part of who you are and all you do–which is exactly what you are doing now. Keep doing what you are doing. That is all the leadership I could ask for you to model.

So I don’t have to try to prove You exist.

Oh, little one, no wonder you feel you must keep quiet. All you can do is model what faith looks like in your experience. That’s it. That’s the invitation. That’s the premise. And for you, that’s also the reality. But it is not provable in any scientific or rhetorical sense. It is only experienced. So share your life. Let the curious find their own experiences. That is the only way faith is made real–by experience. Otherwise, it is merely what we started this conversation with, information and facts without any heart, without any power or authority to comfort, to strengthen, to heal, to encourage, to guide; in short, without any Love.