A Week To Give Thanks…Happy Thanksgiving
The Leadership Project is thankful for you.
From our family to yours, we wish you the best of this holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Category: saltJournal
Bob’s daily blog of leadership points.
A Week To Give Thanks…Opportunity
An opportunity represents circumstances presenting possibility, either to be gained or lost. If we are unable to see the possibility, we will never take advantage of the opportunity.
Life is filled with opportunities. We may choose to pass or act on an opportunity. The possibility also exists that we will neither pass or act on an opportunity because we fail to see it.
As we focus the week on gratitude, we are thankful for the opportunities God provides. Whether we fail to see an opportunity or we see it, what a blessing we have to know God works in our lives daily. He provides us with opportunities to grow closer to Him, recognize the beauty of His handiwork, develop a stronger faith, help and encourage others, love family and friends, work and earn a living, remember those who changed our lives, and the list is unending.
Opportunities abound if we look. We generally find that taking advantage of God-given opportunities provides an abundance of God’s blessings.
Now that is something worth our gratitude. Thank you, Lord.
A Week To Give Thanks…Friends
Throughout life we meet many acquaintances, people we know and people with whom we share a part of our journey through life. We are thankful for the footprint left by these individuals because the composition of the whole is responsible for who we are today.
Throughout life, however, there are those few people who leave more than a footprint on our lives. These individuals draw close in a relationship that involves more than sharing a part of the journey, but they share their lives on this journey. We call them friends.
Sadly, social media has redefined the way we think about friends. A friend is far more than someone who likes, comments on, or shares a link. The thought of having hundreds or thousands as friends through social media is a farce.
Knowing a few who are close friends is a great blessing in life. Many definitions of a friend exist. One that resonates with most says, “A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.”
For those people in our life that are true friends, today and everyday, we give thanks.
A Week To Give Thanks…Family
No single post can list the details regarding the areas of family for which we express thanks. Family is represented by two components: spiritual and physical.
Spiritually, we are blessed by the Almighty God to share in the fellowship of a spiritual family, His church. The beauty of this relationship allows us to be one regardless of the color of our skin, age, gender, nationality, educational background, or social status. And the list could go on. In God’s family none of these matter. What matters is our relationship with God through Christ and to each other. First and foremost, for this we give thanks.
Physically, we are also blessed in this life to have those we love and who love us. Our physical family is not always biological in nature. Whatever the bond that brings us together, there is something special about family. Husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and more make up the nature of kinfolk, family, or relatives that make us uniquely our own. We may not always agree, but we can lean on each other. For our families, let us always give thanks.
Be All You Can Be…
The army’s slogan is one of the most significant for leadership development. We will struggle in life if we constantly compare ourselves with others. Sadly, we tend to lean to the extremes.
On one hand, we compare ourselves with people below us in an attempt to feel better about ourselves. We begin to develop a bit of arrogance in thinking we are better than others.
On the other hand, we compare ourselves with people above us and our mountain of pride crumbles. We can never measure up. Our esteem is crushed and we feel as though we will never amount to anything.
Both sides are equally dangerous. Years ago, someone said it this way, “You will never fully believe in yourself if you keep comparing yourself to everyone else.”
God made us individually unique. He does not expect, nor does He want, us to be someone else. He simply asks us to follow the example left by our Savior, an example not built on comparing ourselves with others, but one built on elevating others above ourselves.
This is the foundation of the leadership slogan, “Be all you can be.”
Consistency…
Character is critical to leadership, and nothing is more critical to the development of our leadership skills than consistency of character.
While perfection is ideal and something we all strive to attain, we know it is improbable and most likely impossible. Lets be realistic.
We can, however, develop a greater level of consistency. We need to be consistent with our most private moments, which should then be consistent with the words and actions of our life.
When we understand the purpose that drives our life, then we align our words and actions with that purpose. From this point, we develop greater consistency because there is a purpose behind our thoughts, which become our words, which influence our actions.
Whether we consider the environment of our homes, job, neighborhood, or anywhere we go, people recognize consistency.
From a spiritual perspective, nothing holds greater influence.
Consider the definition: “an attribute of a logical system that is so constituted that none of the propositions deducible from the axioms contradict one another.”
I thought you might like to ponder on that thought for a while 🙂
Are You A Leader?
A distinction can be made between the concept of leadership and that of being a leader.
A segment of those who write about leadership indicate a small percentage (2-3%) of people in our world are leaders. Another segment of authorship claims everyone has a sphere of influence that includes friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, etc. Thus, we are all leaders to a degree. The exercise of our influence, however, may determine the type of leader we are or are not.
On the other hand, leadership seems to indicate the use of power to direct a group of individuals toward an objective, a purpose, vision, or certain goals associated with these areas.
If we make this distinction, then the number of those who possess the authority to direct is fewer. Additionally, few desire this authority.
We should remember something I once heard, “If you want to be a leader, then think, speak, and act like a leader.” The idea speaks to how our thoughts, words, and actions affect every relationship.
If we start here, then perhaps leadership will take care of itself.
Somewhere in the Middle…
November 15 is somewhere in the middle of the month. While the idea of being somewhere in the middle can raise thoughts of mediocrity, neither for our against, a sort of “riding the fence” mentality, this thought goes much deeper.
As quickly as the days, weeks, months, and years fly by, taking a moment somewhere in the middle seems appropriate to evaluate and ask a few questions.
What have we done up to this point to help reach our goals and achieve the vision? Would our assessment indicate solid progress, or are adjustments needed in order to move us forward? Maybe we need to alter our goal. If so, should the goal be raised because we aimed to low, or should it be lowered because we were to ambitious initially?
Somewhere in the middle affords us an opportunity to evaluate the primary areas of our work and progress to determine how we can lead into the future. Additionally, from this position we have a much better perspective of what the future looks like and how we can cast a greater vision for what lies ahead.
Ready for Change…
Change often meets resistance. Once we are comfortable with the status quo, settled into our comfort zone, and content with the “way it has always been” we must consider how to move forward.
George Bernard Shaw once said, “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” As much as the thought of change ruffles feathers, change is the price of progress. Why must we remind ourselves that change is biblical?
This post is not designed to deal with how the introduction of change led individuals and congregations away from the Lord. Perhaps we will address that subject another time.
The intent of this post is an effort to exhort us to consider how our fear of the negative side of change has stifled our need for change.
The proper use of technology, the introduction of new methodologies for teaching, and a general openness to evaluating what has and has not worked in the past would serve leadership well.
If the church desires to grow, spiritually and numerically, we need to be a bit more comfortable with change because growth does not occur without it.
Lifelong Leadership Development…
Numerous courses and books on leadership point to understanding leadership development as a lifelong process. Among the ideas expressed several are worth considering, such as the following:
Leadership is developed over time. Becoming a leader is not accomplished by simply taking a course or reading a book. God works throughout our lifetime to train us and give us the experience needed to develop our leadership.
Developing a leader can involve periods of suffering. Voluntary and involuntary events occur throughout life that cause us to step back and reflect on who and where we are in relationship to God and others. These times may involve isolation used to help us reflect and prepare us for greater leadership.
Proper perspective is the goal of leadership development. As challenging as periods of suffering can be, they help us better understand God and His guidance, if our perspective is one that sees God’s hand in the events of our life.
If we can learn to trust in God’s working, we can grow into the masterpiece He makes of us. Consider Paul’s thought on the workmanship of God (Ephesians 2:10).