DISTRACTION

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Life presents an endless series of interruptions and distractions. 

When your day is interrupted or your progress stalls, it's easy for your mindset to collapse as well. You may feel guilty for not following through on what you intended to do. But you are not guilty, you are human. 

Everyone gets distracted. In many ways, the real divide is between those who get back on track quickly and those who let interruptions expand into longer periods of inactivity. 

Top performers get back on track faster than most. This is the skill to develop. You will be interrupted, but you can choose to keep it brief.

James Clear

LEADER

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Why does the word “leader” evoke such a range of emotions within us? Check in with yourself: What are the visceral mental, emotional, and physical responses to the word “leader” in your own body?

Our cultual moment has a conflicted relationship with the role of the leader. There is a shared sentiment of suspicion of those, and often warranted desire to dethrone, whose desire to lead is to lord over others for their own glory and gain. But there is also an honest longing looking for exemplars, mentors, and guides to follow. The undercurrent of admiration for those willing to risk stepping into the headwinds of change crashes against the rocks of our reality.

I borrowed, and of course then alliterated, the wisdom of J.R. Briggs on what is a leader. Leaders bear pain, build trust, and bring hope. It may be reductionistic, but it begins to frame what a leader is willing to do, whatever context they are leading in. Leaders will carry the weight of responsibility, they will do the relational work for the collective win, and they will hold on to a view of the horizon that lies beyond them. They bear pain, build trust, and bring hope.

As I consider what has it required for me to be a leader working in and with faith communities over the last 30 years, I believe it has been the willingness to go first, fail forward, and create space for others. To lead is to go first, which is not to be confused with putting yourself in the first place. Going first may be speaking least or eating last. To lead is to step into the unknown. The unknown is where all fear resides. Leading requires the resolve to look and lean over the ledge. This is the definition of courage, writes Brene Brown. “Courage requires the willingness to lean into uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. If we can’t handle uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure in a way that aligns with our values we can’t lead.” To lead is to steward our power on behalf of others. It is acknowledging we have some degree of platform and privilege, and choosing to leverage what we have for the sake of others. A leader believes in the power of generative hospitality. They are committed to create space for others to grow and flourish.

I recently read if you want to know who the leader is, don’t look around the room for the person with the title. Instead, watch everyone’s eyes. When the question is asked, “What are we going to do?” Where the eyes of the group go is the leader in the room. I believe every person finds themselves at some point with the eyes of the room on them. The invitation in that moment is to be the leader.

Jared Ray Mackey

VOCATION

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It comes from the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to by God.  

There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-Interest.  

By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you've presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you've missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you're bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren't helping your patients much either. 

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. 

Frederick Buechner

- Originally published in Wishful Thinking

HERE IS THE WORLD

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The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you.

Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you.

There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.

Frederick Buechner