A scene in my life I have not thought about for years replayed in my dreams last night. Even as I recognized myself, with darker hair and not as much weight, I realized that I was hearing and seeing through the eyes of another. The set-up for the scene was a one on one performance review conversation. I was thinking through my reactions of hearing about myself.
“Have you thought about how and why you know that you are empowered?”
It was a challenging question. Until this moment, I had not thought much about it. “No.”
“Do you realize that we talk almost everyday? In our conversation, there is much that we agree on, working through the details of how we are going to work together in executing. We also have our fair share of differing viewpoints.”
“Yes. We do talk a lot. I think we know where the other stands on the different issues.”
“I agree. I also travel frequently, speaking on those trips to the people that report to you.”
“I often hear more from my managers than I do from you about your trips.”
“Good. You realize that I know firsthand what you are doing with our conversations?”
“I have never thought about that. You’re right. You have clear sight into my management decisions.”
“I know and yet it has never come up in our conversation.”
“Yes, how come?”
“You are empowered. You have intuitively known that fact. Now the empowerment is explicit. I trust you to do your job.”
I was not the first to take this action. Paul’s promise to people he trusted was along the same lines; “after I arrive, I’ll write letters authorizing whomever you delegate, and send them off to Jerusalem to deliver your gift.” (1 Corinthians 16.3)
Divinity knows us inside and out, weaknesses and strengths, moments of brilliance and ones we both want to forget. In this context, we have an invitation to make the world a better place. What happens today will be our story, telling others of what we think of freedom and power.
