“Solution: awake the sleepers. Awaken their hearts to the passions instilled in them by God at birth. To help them realize who they are. Define identity. And once identity in Christ is defined, with passions and giftings realized, they can go out into the world, free from oppression, living in true freedom, fully alive.”
There is that moment for every leader. When hope and expectation becomes reality. When time and energy invested seems to have taken root. When all you have encouraged, desired, and hoped for, is reflected back to you. It is fleeting and feels far too infrequent, but it is part of the essential air that leaders breathe.
Every parent has felt that great sense of satisfaction…the realization that our awkward attempts at leading a family weren’t an exercise in futility. Despite so much evidence to the contrary (and the determined whispers of our enemy), that maybe the child set in front of us was going to turn out okay. Reading one of my children’s blogs and seeing the quote above was one of those moments.
I spent many years believing that making a difference in the world was the thing you did in addition to having a great career. Kingdom impact became the thing that got my leftovers of time, talent, and energy. I would have argued with you if you had said that was the case, but it was true. I called my efforts my “first fruits”, but it was really what was left after every other demand was requited. Sustaining a good career and all the other responsibilities that living the good life required, left very little in the tank to do much else. Truth is that God desires something far more disruptive, unorthodox, uncertain…and far more glorious.
To see a child, an employee, or even an entire company break free from the Matrix. To see them realize that all they had been taught to believe about life was an illusion, a lie. To feel like you were one of the “sleepers” that God had awakened and to know that through your life and encouragement of others to wake as well, that it had happened in some small way for another. That is about as good as it gets for this leader.
I don’t desire acknowledgement or reward, but to see more enter the “land of the living” in the here and now, is deeply validating and encouraging. It is that deep knowing that my Father is pleased with me intending a better life for His beloved. It is far richer than any prize this world can offer. By His grace and mercy, as leaders, we get the occasional glimmer from a child, the proclamation of an employee, or even the awakened and realized vision of a partner company. I got to see all three last week and it was very good for heart…and my leadership
- Are you living a life well-live?
- Are you offering all the gifts God has given in all the ways He intended?
- Is there measurable results in others from the weight of God’s glory in you?