A long obedience in the same direction.
Hello leaders.
Here is this week's round-up of the things I have been learning as I try to follow Jesus while helping others do the same.
ONE Thing I'm Learning While Following Jesus from the Leadership Chair.
Lately, I’ve noticed how easily I confuse being needed with being responsible for everything. A message comes in, a decision needs to be made, someone has a question, and before long, my whole day belongs to whatever arrived most recently. I can finish a day exhausted and still feel like I never got to the work I was actually called to do.
I’m learning to pause before I say yes. Sometimes the most helpful thing I can do is answer a question. Sometimes it’s to let someone else make the decision, even if they make it differently than I would. And sometimes I need to admit that something good simply cannot fit into this week.
That is uncomfortable for me. I care about people, and I don’t want anyone to feel brushed aside. But when I treat every need as equally urgent, I become less present with the people right in front of me. I’m asking God to help me lead from a clearer sense of calling instead of a constant sense of pressure. I don’t have that figured out yet, but I’m beginning to see the difference.
ONE Scripture I'm processing. 📚
(Proverbs 4:23) "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.”
I’m realizing that the condition of my heart affects the way I lead, even when no one else can see what is happening inside me. When I let hurry, frustration, or anxiety go unchecked, those things eventually show up in how I treat people. This verse is calling me to pay attention to my inner life as carefully as I pay attention to the work in front of me.
ONE Thing to Try This Week. 😎
Try this: Substitute your normal prayer time for one day with a time of listening.
The purpose is just to be with God. We can get too comfortable with treating our prayer time like a business meeting.
ONE Thing Worth Your Time. ⏰
READ: Lead Yourself Well to Lead Others Better
Before we ask how to lead others better, we need to look at what is happening in our own hearts, minds, and habits. Catron gives us a helpful way to examine those parts of our lives without reducing leadership to another productivity trick.
ONE Question/Thought For our Spiritual Formation 🧐
Question: Who have I been too busy to really see?
A full schedule can make us attentive to tasks while overlooking the person doing them. This question might lead you to slow down, listen, and learn something a report or meeting would never tell you.
Keep learning. Keep leading. Keep following Jesus.
— Dr. Cannon (Fellow Traveler)
