Being asked to lead is an honor. The invitation is empowering, enticing, and exhilarating. Invitations should come with a warning. You need someone to lead. More specifically, the individuals you have been asked to lead need to accept your leadership and more importantly your leadership message.
One can talk confidently, however in the darkness of the night one wonders if the message will be accepted and embraced. One can be too busy to pay much attention to the risk; experience reminds me that a niggling doubt will remain close by. Life keeps reminding me to pay attention to the fears, uncertainties, and doubts. Each reminds you of what is important – individuals, the message, and one’s intent.
As I wrestle with the demons that refuse to go away, I find myself turning to the principles that I hold closest to my heart. Love, compassion, and community are the beginning. Relentless passion, honor, and accountability are also in the mix. I realize that my ability to push forward in the midst of the uncertainties that working with others always brings is dependent on my confidence in the principles themselves.
Gaining confidence is easier when one is doing it with help. I find myself returning to an old plea for help, from a man after God’s own heart; “Now God, don’t hold out on me, don’t hold back your passion. Your love and truth are all that keeps me together.” (Psalm 40.11)
Gaining confidence is made real by leveraging the help available and using the principles to take action. The outcomes that follow – letting it become part of our story, retelling that story to anyone willing to listen, and learning from the results – gives me the confidence to move forward in the face of my fears, doubts, and uncertainties as well as the barriers others throw up in front of me.
Life reminds me that being dependent is not a weakness. We are call to live life to the max. We are not asked to do it alone. We are invited to be dependent – on each other and God.
