John 13:3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
I am in a leadership course for my masters at Wheaton College. And am alone. (Read no kids, no husband and great time to blog!!) And what have we focused on regarding leadership? Our security in knowing who we are before we act. Our integrity. Our hearts. Our spiritual connectivity to God.
A book we read, A Failure of Nerve encourages leaders to not react to others’ anxiety. Much of our leadership is reactionary. Anyone with a kid who has tantrums gets this: Calista starts to freak out and sometimes I do too! Instead, if I am secure as Jesus was: Whose am I? What power has God given me? Where am I going? Then and only then do I have a prayer in the face of her tantrums. Tantrums, social injustices, death, cancer or any other broken part of life on earth should not make me lose it! We do not need to lose our nerve in the face of opposition or temptation.
Perhaps another way of thinking about it is in terms of faith. Nothing we face is more powerful than the God in Whom we trust. We can keep believing Him no matter what. Instead of reacting, we could be cultivating our integrity, our hearts and our spiritual development so that when those issues arise, we are prepared to deal with them.
We could all probably list many pastors, priests and Christians who have failed. They maybe were successful leaders in exterior ways. But on the inside, they were rotten. Jesus used the term “white-washed tombs.”
I do not want to be a white-washed tomb. I don’t want to be afraid to deal with the mess on the inside. And I think if I do deal with it, no matter the tantrum, the injustice or the situation, God can equip me to lead.
Sometimes when I’m writing, I feel like asking the reader a question, but I don’t know who you are! Or I want to break into prayer. Or I edit and edit and rewrite and then wonder, what is a blog truly for? Or who is it for? Hmmm… Sounds like I need to apply John 13 here! I know Whose I am, the power of the written word and where I am going. So boom. I’m done tonight. Hope you enjoyed my musings this March evening:)
Like not once but twice.