“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where -‘ said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
‘- so long as I get SOMEWHERE,’ Alice added as an explanation.
‘Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, ‘if you only walk long enough.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he who keeps the law                                                                                                                                   Proverbs 29:18

There are many dimensions of leadership, but I will close this discussion of leadership principles with the “vision of leadership”. Vision is an irreplaceable aspect of excellent leadership. A good leader has an idea of where the people, the organization, he/she leads must go in order to prosper and succeed. That leader can articulate those goals, give heart to people to follow that vision, and then do the hard work of leading toward those goals.

The problem often is that the goals are not seen by people, and they have trouble following the hard course set out by the visionary leader. It takes courage and tenacity for a good leader to move forward toward what he/she knows is the best course for the people he or she leads. The leader also models such leadership by discipline and steadfast movement toward achieving the lofty goals set forth.

This entails that the leader is acting in the best interest of the people led. This takes selfless courage, and discipline. These attributes are hard to find, but if you have had the blessing of being under such leadership, you feel secure and satisfied that you are on a powerful mission- one that is worth the sacrifices you must make. The mission has become more important than personal gratification, and that is what gives our lives meaning and value.

Yes, we are all headed in a direction. If, like Alice above, that direction does not matter, leadership does not matter. But if we want a clear and meaningful direction, a mission, we need strong, courageous, visionary leadership.  

Prayer: Father, thank you for strong, courageous leaders whom you have put into our lives. Give us courage and strength to move toward the lofty goals of serving your creation, Amen.

After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?”

 Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”

There is a now famous saying that President Harry S. Truman had on a little plaque on his desk- “The Buck Stops Here”. The saying is perhaps a bit trite nowadays, but the principle is still relevant. Back in those days, the early 1950’s, the idea resonated bit more than it does today. We had just come through the great conflict of World War II, and military type thinking was still much more accepted. Radical responsibility said that the leader took full ownership of anything that happened under his/her watch. If there was a mishap, a failure, a problem, the leader took responsibility for it, even if the specifics of the problem were not directly attributable to the leader.

President Truman had to make some very difficult decisions. He had to decide upon dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. He had to decide proper actions on a national steel strike. He had to decide on firing General Douglas MacArthur when MacArthur defied orders. Truman made some important, and often unpopular decisions, but he owned them and accepted the consequences. 

Perhaps this is harsh, but it points out the ultimate nature of responsibility. The leader does not get to blame underlings or others for failures that happen on his/her watch. Blame is not projected onto others, and the leader cannot act like a victim. Real leaders accept that they are ultimately responsible for the organization they lead and, by extension, the lives of those people in that organization.

People can follow a leader whom they trust. People can trust leaders who accept responsibility, and those who own the consequences of their decisions. Casting blame onto others for failures is not an option. Yes, leadership is hard, and often unfair. But that is the cost of leadership.

Prayer: As Peter replied to Jesus, you are the only leader who has the words of life. Help us follow, Amen.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.                                                                                                           Philippians 2:5-8 (The Message)

I have been a student of leadership principles for a number of years, and I will be sharing some of these elements of leadership in the next few blogs. I have always believed that humility is a fundamental character trait for leadership, and I was gratified to see that Doris Kearns Goodwin, a giant of scholarship, agrees with that principle. When I teach, I use various historic world leaders to amplify that point, and one I always use is George Washington.

Washington was a unique leader. After having led the Continental Army to victory over the British in the Revolutionary War, he went to Congress and turned over his sword to them, yielding to the authority of that elected body. Remember, at that time, the only tangible power that existed in the newborn country (indeed, at this point, we did not even have a Constitution) was the standing army. He led that army, and he turned over the power of that force to the civil, elected government.

The rest of the world was astounded at this gesture. Military leaders of that era could be expected to simply assert their military might into ruling the country they represented. Washington gave an example of the principle of submission to civil authority. The rule of law would supersede the rule of might.

What does a great leader do with his/her power? They use it for the good of the people they lead. They empower others to act rightly for the common good. The paradox is that great leaders find a way to give away power responsibly- not hoard it for themselves. In this way, real authority is exercised, not just the flaunting of raw power.

When Jesus humbled himself to come to the earth as a baby, he exemplified this principle in the most dramatic fashion.

Great leaders give themselves away to serve those whom they lead.  

Prayer: Thank you Father for the example of servanthood as true leadership, Amen.

 ^“I thank my God every time I remember you”.                                                           Philippians 1:3

Yesterday I talked about the effects of stress, specifically the burden that it places on our endocrine system, which responds with hormonal responses to the flight, fright or freeze process. We know that acute stress causes spikes in these hormonal responses with release of cortisol and adrenaline. Over a period of time, such reactions can cause some long-term physical and emotional problems.

Especially problematic is the presence of long-term, chronic stress, where the body gets fatigued with the repeated release of these chemicals which prepare us for acute responses. If the stress is prolonged, we can have some long-term physical problems. Unfortunately, many people in many professions are expected to always be vigilant, always in response mode. This leads to physical and emotional burn-out.

We get used to stress, and it becomes like normal. But it is not normal. We pay a price for such long-term stress. Indeed, human resilience can become adapted to incredible stresses. Physicians and emergency personnel who are “on call” become inured to vigilance as a way of life. Soldiers and police officers become accustomed to danger as a part of everyday life, and they sometimes do not even acknowledge the presence of constant fear. “It’s what we do”, they say.

Yes, it is what they do, and I thank them for it. I don’t know how long such persistence is possible. Clearly, like the law of economics, whatever we put off comes due with interest. We pay a high price (like interest charges) at a future time for the current stress we undergo.

We recognize that stress is an unavoidable a part of life, but some have more chronic stress than others. Undo, unnatural stress over time comes with a cost. Validation of such sacrifice is important to society in order to support and encourage those who sacrifice for our safety and security every day.

So, for those who serve us in first line healthcare, for those police, fire, military and other emergency personnel. Thank you for what you do. You are paying a price, and we appreciate it!

Please try to take care of yourselves.

Prayer: Father, we lift up those who serve in such critical roles to serve their community. Bless them, and protect them, Amen.

“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind…”                                                              Ephesians 4:23

So how’s that for a pretentious title today? Well, yes, it is, but there is also some truth to it. If you are like me, it can get discouraging to see the news of the world we live in. Crime, responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, school shootings, the plight of those who try to emigrate from horrible political and social systems- the list goes on and on.

Sometimes we feel so helpless to make things better. We can’t change these issues on a macro level. Anxiety is caused by feeling loss of control of the world around us. This sounds like a recipe for significant anxiety!

So, what CAN we control?

We can control those small decisions that we make every day. We can decide to make the world a little better place for the next person we meet. We can decide to volunteer in our community to make it a safer and healthier place. We can get a COVID vaccination to help stop the spread of the disease and help protect ourselves and our loved ones. We can write an encouraging note to someone, or just send a random text that tells someone dear that we love them.

Yes, there are dozens of little decisions that we can make, in order to make the world around us a bit better. Remember my favorite mantra- “Good behavior beats bad thinking”

So, go ahead and change the world- by making your little piece of the world better.

Prayer: Lord, give us the vision to make our little space a better one for having been there, Amen

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.  He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.  He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’  So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing.  About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius.  So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.  When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.  ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?  Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.  Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Matthew 20:1-16

I love this parable that Jesus told about the workers in the vineyard. He uses both the principles of paradox (last shall be first) and the great logic of the master’s authority to pay his workers in the way that he had promised. It was also about generosity, and our often-injured sense of fairness.

I found it interesting that the workers hired in the morning expected higher pay than the vine master had originally promised them, simply because he had paid the last hour workers the same wage he had promised the all-day workers. Now, if I were one of the workers who had worked all day in the hot sun, would I have been upset? You bet I would! My sense of fairness would have been violated. And believe me, if someone wants to set off another into a fit, just mess with their sense of fairness.

Jesus explained here however that justice was done, even if it did not seem fair. One could argue that the master was simply being generous to the late day workers. Possibly, he reasoned that he had to get the harvest in that day, and he would need to pay a premium to the late workers just to save his crop. Who knows? The point is, the master had the right to make that decision. Even if it did not seem fair to the all-day workers, it was justice, and he was honest to his word to them.

Just human nature at work here, and we all qualify for that. But Jesus had a higher sense of justice, and a lesson for us all. He is sovereign, and the paradox of the “last shall be first” is one of those themes in the Bible that we all need to reckon with.

Prayer: Lord, your ways are higher than our ways. Help us to see your truth, Amen

 He called, “Any fish, boys?”

“No,” we replied.

 Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get plenty of them!” So we did, and couldn’t draw in the net because of the weight of the fish, there were so many!

John 21:5-7

I was talking with a friend the other day about grace. Specifically, we talked about grace that is invisible to us until we are enabled to see it. I suggested that the key to have the lens to see such grace is humility.

We were talking about the incident when Jesus told Peter, (after Peter and others had spent a whole night of fruitless fishing), to cast his net on the other side of the boat. Peter, a fisherman by profession, must have been taken aback when this itinerant preacher and part-time carpenter, gave him fishing advice.

Peter did as Jesus suggested, and he came up with the biggest haul of his life. He received the grace of a bounty of fish that had heretofore been hidden from him. Peter’s decision to accede to the directions of a non-fisherman took some humility. This came from Peter’s trust of Jesus, as well as perhaps a sense of “Well, I’ve got nothing to lose” thinking. Who knows?

I do suggest that it took humility on Peter’s part to cast that net where Jesus said to. Humility is the mindset- “There are things people can teach me. I don’t have all the answers.”

Teachable people are humble people. They are successful ones too.

Prayer: Thank you for the hidden graces that await us as we trust in you, Amen.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”                                                   Mahatma Gandhi

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”                                                 Mark Twain

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love                                                                                                                        I John 4:18

 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” answered Jesus, “but seventy times seven…                                                                                                                                                        Matthew 18:21-22

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”                                                                                                                                                                Martin Luther King, Jr.

These are some rather poetic words, spoken by immortal thinkers and purveyors of wisdom. There are untold numbers of such quotes, from great thinkers, writers, the Bible, and other wisdom sources. In these times when wisdom seems to be in short supply, when love is not the first solution chosen to deal with our problems, I thought that I would just give a few quotes to consider today.

Several are about forgiveness. We need that every day, and we need to give it every day. Maybe that is why Jesus made the standard so generous.

Think about these quotes, and decide which one is the most meaningful for you today. They are all great quotes, but maybe one will just stand out to you. I hope so.

Enjoy a day of peace and love! 

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the wisdom that comes from you and through your servants, Amen.

Paul stood up in the middle of the council on Mars Hill and said, “People of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. As I was walking through town and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an unknown God.’ What you worship as unknown, I now proclaim to you. God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn’t live in temples made with human hands.                                                                                    Acts 17:16-17

In this present era, we experience a type of communication where people are talking across one another instead of to one another. We see Paul as an example of one who knew how to engage people. Paul had a message of good news which he desperately wanted to share with people, because he believed that spiritual life and death were at stake. Instead of demeaning and mocking the primitive beliefs of the idol worshippers at Athens, Paul showed respect for them in their search for truth. He acknowledged their sincere search for truth, and he showed his interest in their culture. He walked around the city and observed what was important to them. He did not judge them, but pointed out and affirmed their own desire to know the “unknown god”. The Athenians were open to the idea of a god that they did not yet know, and they had made idols to various gods. However, in the interest of not leaving any out lest they anger one of those deities, they made an idol to the “unknown god.”

Paul was able to use their own language and concepts to help introduce them to the God that could offer them peace and salvation. He did not mock their feeble attempts to placate the unknown god, he introduced them to the God of their need, the God that they sought and did not yet know.

Paul’s approach is needed today. We need to listen, and understand the language of people with whom we disagree. We need not, and should not, shame and dishonor those with whom we disagree. We need to love them enough to hear their world view. It may be very different from ours, yet people come to a particular world view for a reason. It is arrived at due to a journey different than ours oftentimes.  

As we enter the heated environment of political rhetoric which is so visible these days, let us pause to understand that with which we disagree. You will read, if you complete the 17^th chapter of Acts, that Paul gained a hearing from the people of Athens because he cared enough to hear their story and their world view, different as it was from his. Let us be intentional in respectfully hearing views with which we disagree.

It is good for our soul, and the souls of those whom we love and yet do not agree with.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the patience to hear what we do not agree with, and the grace to patiently share your love, Amen.

Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart. This is why we’ve thrown ourselves into this venture so totally. We’re banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers I Timothy 4:8-10

I had knee replacement surgery several years ago, and it taught me several things. First, is that there is an emotional consequence of surgery that we would do well to consider more than we do. Of course there is physical pain, which is to be expected. Frankly, that pain was very manageable. The mild depression that followed was not as I might have expected. It too was quite manageable once I recognized it for what it was. It consisted of negative thinking which was not very rational at times. It left me thinking that I would never totally recover, and that walking would always be a bit of a problem. Not true, of course, but when you are there in your mindset, it can be hard to combat.

The other lesson was a “re-learning”- if you don’t use it, you lose it. One day I looked down at my calf muscle and I was appalled at the muscle mass I had lost. I had become (and still am) an avid walker, and I was used to a well-developed calf muscle, built on miles of walking every day. In a scant two weeks, I saw a rather withered muscle that added to the aforementioned depressive thinking. What I had developed over the years seemed to disappear in weeks.

The moral of the story? If you don’t use a function regularly, you lose it. Muscles need to be worked every day. In fact, every faculty of our being is there to be used. Our mind, our body, our intellect, our social connections- everything, must be regularly used to be maintained in top shape.

So, since we are physical, spiritual and emotional beings, we need to find ways to stimulate all three areas daily. After all, if you don’t use it, you do indeed begin to lose it.

Prayer: Lord, you have made us to be bodies and minds in motion. Thank you for that marvelous plan, Amen