leading

Leading is difficult, especially if it is for a long continuous time.  Things are bound to go wrong at some point.  An inconsistency may limit the the desire of others to follow you or cause them to question your integrity.  Your creativity or eye for detail occasionally misses the mark.  You rely on your own ability instead of including others.  You begin to believe you are infallible.




Pastor Rick Warren said the following:  The problem today is we don’t know the difference between being a leader and a boss. They are not the same. Dictators demand. Leaders model. You don’t lead by dictating. You lead by example. The Bible says, “Don't lord it over the people assigned to your care but lead them by your good example.” (1 Peter 5:3 NLT)


I have to confess, I have never enjoyed working for anyone I considered just to be my boss.  There have only been a couple of people in my life in the position of boss that I consider a leader worth following.  The others were only there by appointment.  Put into a position that we were forced to follow by the acceptance of our job.


So I must ask myself.  Do I lead as Jesus lead?  Am I willing to do anything to help get the job done - willing to lead by example?  Do people follow me because they have to or because they feel like my leadership is worth following?  I long to lead like Jesus lead.


He never asks us to do what He hasn't already done.

learning and leading

I was reviewing one of our daughters Harvard final papers yesterday and this was a quote from it that I cannot get out of my mind.

 It is easier to be in control than to truly love and invest in relationships and the
betterment of others. 


I found this very convicting.

I find myself leading most of the time - both and work and in other various community involvements.

 When you lead and when you are very busy there isn't much time left to really know people, and sometimes I like it that way.  How sad that must make God.

And then I must look at the second half of the quote betterment of others...except for my family and close friends I don't know if I have the betterment of others foremost in my mind.  Or even as an intention that would affect my decision making.

How do you live for the betterment of others - by truly loving them.  And truly loving them means you put them before yourself.

I have probably learned more about how God really wants me to live this year than all the other years of my life.  Cambodia caused a great deal of change in my understanding of God's Word and it just figures, the older I get the more I learn from my kids!