There are moments when I despaired. I wondered aloud, hopefully just to my self; I wasn’t making a difference, nobody was listening, that leadership was more myth than fact. I knew with far more certainty that anyone deserved of the futileness of my efforts. When someone dared to mention the word depression, I snapped that a reasoned response to facts is never an aberration from the truth! If I should reflect on the truth then reflect it was.
Yet again; how wrong I can be.
Time passes and the fruit of that time and subsequent efforts continues to show itself. It is absolutely stunning how the people who I had momentarily wondered about have matured and living out a vision more robust, exciting, and with new type of results. I have, especially over the past week, found myself reacting to stories, experiencing being in their presence, and seeing them in action. Each case is slightly different but it is clear that I have had a Christmas in March! This cannot be! They were not listening then, were they? They did not get the true meaning of the stories. Leaders in their own right, it has triggered yet another round of reflection.
Do you have any idea of the power your presence has on those around you. While not being responsible for the pain and sadness in another life, do you realize just how instrumental you are on their happiness and sense of hope in this moment? Is it just possible that those actively rebelling against your guidance, parenting, and friendship are actually listening, learning, and growing in ways you may never see?
It is clearly a sign of getting older but it is rewarding anyways. I asked others to see a vision, “and they went out to see for themselves.” (John 4.30) I may, did, have doubts. I worried, a lot. I doubted, on more occasions than I care to admit. Yet God and these kids are now leaders in their own right! Life is a team effort. We are in this together, as equals.
