Cultivating Leaders

I love being able to work with a people from a variety of different backgrounds.  One of my favorite things in life it to help people understand that they are much more than what their circumstances say they are.  I consider it a privilege to walk alongside people and help them better understand their gifts, passions, and what Dad is calling them to do.

One thing that I have encountered recently is that people have very limited perspectives of leadership.   For most of the world, the leader is the person in the front, with all the power and authority to make decisions.  This is particular true for China.  Not to say that there is not a truth in the above description, but it severely limits the definition of leadership.  Some of the most powerful leaders are quiet people, diligently doing their work and being strong examples for change. They never said anything from the front but their character and influence has massive effects.  Take the Son, for example. He was not considered a leader by His contemporaries, but He clearly had influence and changed history.  

I am currently walking alongside a number of women who do not see their own leadership abilities.  I am trying to encourage them not to limit their definition of leadership, but look at the different ways that people follow their example.  I am longing for the day when these women can boldly say “I am a leader” and believe it. That is why I love this quote from John Quincey Adams:

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, become more and do more, you are a leader.”

This is the type of leader I want to be and actively encourage those around me to be.  Who are you leading?  In what ways are you inspiring others?   

Coming Back Around

At the conference I attended in February, a friend was sharing about the lesson she learned last year.  She was once again learning a lesson that seems to appear every few years.  Instead of being frustrated with learning the new lesson, she was celebrating the fact she was able to go deeper in growth.  Our Father in not content to have our character and actions be shallow, so we are being challenged to go deepen our character and make every action reflect Him.  This is a lifelong process and we will never be prefect at it or fully display His attributes.  Instead of being upset with herself or think the lesson was remedial, she was celebrating the change to experience something more from Him. 

My friend used the analogy that character development is like climbing a mountain.  Now, we don’t scale this mountain but slowly walk around the entire circumference until we reach the top.  We can learn a lesson at the base of the mountain and when we are at 1,500 feet we might be again be working on that area in our life/lesson but it is not the same lesson we learned at the base.  At 1,500 feet we have new muscles, have more experience, and have more knowledge about what is needed to survive the mountain.   We need to hone our skills in this area so that we can make it to 3,000 feet, 5,000 feet or ever have hopes of reaching the top.

This analogy has been extremely helpful for me this week.  I am a planner and like to have things scheduled.  Living cross-culturally, this natural desire is often challenged and just doesn’t happen a majority of the time.  My first few years living in Asia, learning to be flexible and “go with the flow” was one of the biggest and hardest lessons I had to learn.  This week, it has become clear that I have come back around to the lesson of flexibility.  [Coming out of a meeting where your mentor challenges you to be open-handed with your schedule and receiving 10 text messages asking you to change plans or rearrange something is a pretty clear indication that flexibility is once again on the lesson plan].  After the selfish, human part of my flesh had a pity party and was angry that my plans were changed, I remembered my friends wise words.  

Being asked to work on my flexibility does not mean that I did not pay attention to the previous lesson or that I forgot all that I learned.  It means that flexibility is a tool that He needs me to hone, sharpen, and use so I can serve Him to my full capacity.  I can fight the growth and learn the lesson anyway, or I could lean into it and work with the growth (the latter is much less painful, or so I’ve heard).  I will not be learning the same lesson. I am now at 1,500 feet and need to be sharpened so that I have the capacity to climb to 3,000 feet.