I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and that a great week is coming to a close for you.
You know how sometimes you will see something, hear something, reading something and it keeps popping back into your head? I had one of those this week. On Monday or Tuesday I read something and I have thought of it several times since then. I want to share it with you as we close out this great week.
I was reading Be All You Can Be: A Challenge to Stretch Your God-Given Potential by John C. Maxwell. Here is what I read:
"Like the airline pilot, we leaders will often have to deal with disruptions - sometimes very unpleasant disruptions. The issue is whether we respond or react to those disruptions. To react means to act negatively. To respond means to act positively. If you go to your doctor's office, and he prescribes some medicine for you, your body will either react or respond to the medicine. When you come back three days later, the doctor may tell you that your body is reacting to the medicine - he means that your body isn't allowing the medicine to accomplish its purpose. Or he may say that you're responding to the medicine - he means that the medicine is healing your body; you're getting well.
When we have disruptions, do we react or respond? I continually need to remind myself of the importance of responding. People who are schedule oriented, who have their to-do lists, and who have strong goals will always have some tension over disruptions. We have to remember that leadership is more than taking a pen to our to-do lists and marking off numbers. Leadership is meeting needs. I'm afraid sometimes we're marking off numbers instead of meeting needs, and that keeps us from being as effective as we could be.
One key to being an excellent leader is not to let disruption throw you: Handle your disruptions but don't be consumed by them; keep your eyes on the goal. Too many people detour around the need in order to hit the goal, or they meet the need but forget the goal. We have to do both. We must minister to the need as we press on to the goal."
Even as I read again, typing this for you, bits and pieces jump out at me.
- We leaders...
- To react means to act negatively. To respond means to act positively.
- Leadership is meeting needs.
- Too many people detour around the need in order to hit the goal, or they meet the need but forget the goal.
- We must minister to the need as we press on to the goal.
Friends, I have reacted way to many times in my life. I don't want to be a reactor, I want to be a responder. A thought earlier this week on the drive home from working out - we call them first responders, not first reactors. We want them, we need them, when we are in crisis. Yes, I want to be a responder.
The next time our spouses, our sons, our daughters, our friends come to us I pray that we will remember that leadership is meeting needs. I get it, very rarely is their problem - our disruption - convenient for us however perhaps we should remember that it is not about us. Somebody who is looking to us for help needs us. When I was the Athletic Director at MacMurray College in Illinois a terrible tornado tore through our area. The next morning I was driving to work - thankful my house, my family had been spared and listening to the hardships of others. The radio was talking about all of the damage done in surrounding communities - the loss, the hurt. I thought to myself, our athletic department - staff, coaches & athletes - should go help those in need in our communities. Almost instantaneously I thought, "I don't have time for this...I have to much work to do." (My reaction) My spirit, just as quickly convicted me, "These people who have lost their homes probably don't have time for this either." I drove to the office, asked a colleague to send an email out to all staff, coaches & student-athletes asking for volunteers to go work in the community. The work at the office could wait...we served the needs of people that day. (My response)
My goal is to raise God pursuing men who will love, value, cherish & adore their wives. Who will grow to be great Tender Warriors - leading, guiding & protecting their children. Who will seek & pursue the purpose God has for their lives. That is my goal. If I fail to meet their needs - to acknowledge the fear of a baseball, to let them know that I love them regardless of whether the world defines them as a success or a failure, to discipline them when they lie, etc. - I can still hit the goal of growing a boy into a man, at least physically, however I stand no chance of raising a God pursuing, wife honoring, Tender Warrior. The disruptions my Beautiful Bride and sons bring into my life because of their needs are great opportunities to minister deep into their hearts, deep into their souls, deep into their spirits. Whether I react or respond will not only affect them here and now, it will also potentially touch the Haslam family members I may never meet this side of Heaven.
React or Respond? I choose response. I know that I stand zero chance of accomplishing this on my own...I tried that and failed miserably! As I seek God every day I will pray that He makes me a responder, that my eyes, ears, heart, and yes spirit, will see what He sees, hear what He hears, that I will demonstrate His love, mercy & grace. I might not succeed every time however I will pursue this relentlessly also. I will lean on His love, mercy & grace when I fail and I will daily pursue Him again. Yes, this is what I have decided. How about you?
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.
Kev
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