Thursday; May 24

          When we think of leadership what comes to mind:  shaping people into our image or taking them from where they are and molding them into being the best person they can be?  Yes, I realize this is a leading question – we all understand that our goal should be to help people become their best – but, how many of us spend an awful lot of our time trying to force others into our mold?  To be a leader means to have been a success, so if we have become successful we figure that others should do what we did to get where we are.  The preceding sentence may sound confusing, but can you imagine how confusing we can be when we try to force someone into becoming what we are!  It may have taken us decades to get to our level of leadership, so why should we expect others to achieve it in a matter of a few years?  We may have attained our position because we are multi-talented, can you imagine how frustrating it is for people who have limited talents to try to achieve our accomplishments?  Sure, we should help others reach higher and higher, but we must also be mindful of their individual skills and experience.
          When Paul wrote to the leaders in the First Century church in Rome he noted, “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.  Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.”. (Romans 15:1-2)  When we lead people we have to be able to understand where they are and how far they can rise.  Sometimes they will reach levels that are different than us, other times they will pursue options that are different than ours.  The goal is to help people become the best they can be – not to try to fit them into the type of person we think they ought to be.
          Think About It!

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