Month: December 2016

I recently re-read the account of an influential person.  The story has a great plot and reads like a Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale.

Once upon a time … 

a regular teen girl of no fame or notoriety was pulled into the palace of the great king for the purpose of selecting a replacement queen, because the first one was banished for disrespecting her husband, the king.  The young unknown participated in a year long competition of poise and beauty and was selected the new queen of the land. The caveat occurred as she was placed in a difficult predicament of either surrendering her people of origin–a large population of the kingdom–to the evil conspiracy of one of the king’s confidantes, or surrendering her own life by addressing the king to save her people.  Her cousin convinced her she was the only person who might have the influence required to help their people.  This young queen utilized her influence with the king, saving her people from certain demise.  The evil conspirator and his entire family paid the ultimate price for his plot.  The happily ever after was the young queen lived out her days as queen of the land.

What a story! And, it is all true.

The kingdom was Susa and the King was Xerxes. The evil conspirator was Haman.  The young lady was Hadassah, renamed Esther, and her cousin was Mordecai.

This drama contains several lessons. Today my focus is on leadership.

In this account, Mordecai was influential among the Jews, a leader.  While he was sitting at the king’s gate he overheard a conversation between two of the king’s officials who were conspiring against the king.  Mordecai went to the palace and told Esther who, while in the throes of competition to become queen, informed the king.  The incident was recorded in the king’s chronicles and Mordecai’s reputation for loyalty and integrity was established.

Haman, the king’s adviser and confidante, advanced in authority and position.  Unfortunately, Haman had a fatal flaw, pride.

You see, Haman was in a place of authority he believed he deserved.  He had possession of the king’s signet ring.  Everyone knew who Haman was because of his position and paid homage to him because of it, everyone, except Mordecai.

Haman thought highly of himself. Thus, his jealousy burned. Veiled behind a counterfeit smile jealousy grew to envy, causing Haman to plot against Mordecai and all the Jews.  Haman wanted Mordecai and everyone associated with him to pay the price for not honoring him.  He spoke to his wife, Zeresh, stating that although he was brought into the queen’s banquet given only for the king and himself, it was not enough to satisfy his hatred  (Wow! That is some serious hate!)  His wife, along with their friends, told him to build a gallows and have Mordecai hung on them. Haman would be satisfied only by prohibiting Mordecai from being recognized, causing him to be dishonored, and killing him to make that happen.

Position. Influence. Pride. Envy.

Position does not make one a leader. Haman demanded attention from others because of his position rather than using his influential position to serve others.

In contrast, Mordecai led from the middle.  He had positive influence because he was loyal to the king, to Esther, and to his own people, the Jews.  He was a man of integrity who desired no destruction on anyone but instead hoped to save his people through his influence with one person.

Haman was preoccupied with pride in himself. He wanted people to celebrate him. His jealousy grew to envy consuming his heart with the desire to bring down Mordecai.

Esther gained her position because of her influence with Xerxes.  While Esther possessed outward beauty “of form and face,” more significantly, her beauty emanated from her heart. Esther’s heart was on others making her a positive force for the kingdom and for the Jews.

So how does the story end?  

Mordecai was honored and celebrated in the streets of Susa, wearing the royal robe Haman had coveted.  Haman got hung up–literally–on his pride. Haman and his family were hanged on the gallows he had intended for Mordecai, while Esther lived out her days as Queen of Susa.

Pride is the first knot in the noose and tightens with each jealous thought and act of envy.

If we possess position, we must use it to serve. Leading successfully means influencing others no matter our position.

Leadership is influence.  Influence with wisdom opens doors. When we draw near to God, He draws near to us.  When we seek God’s nearness, as Esther did when she called for a fast, we can ask for wisdom and He gives it freely.  Esther sought God to help her influence the king.  With God’s wisdom, we will also influence others toward Him.

Exploring for opportunities is one of my favorite things to do!  I am much like my Daddy with an adventurous spirit, a touch of spontaneity, and an approach of zealous passion to each aspect of my life!

LIFE is an ADVENTURE …

… and a challenging one. Sometimes our adventure is an uninvited challenge creating a barrier to our success. The Israelites faced just such a challenge in crossing the Jordan River. The Jordan was a geographic barrier to the success of their journey into the Promised Land. They arrived at its banks during flood season, so the water was cresting high and moving rapidly. Crossing this river was the Israelites’ path to Canaan. They had never been this way before and were unsure how to progress, so they chose to set their eyes on God and obey His direction. Their obedience brought God’s intervention enabling them to cross the Jordan on dry ground, be safe from their enemies, and closer to possessing the Promised Land. (Joshua 3)

Like the Israelites, as we face life’s barriers, when we seek the Lord and follow His direction, He will provide the route to the other side.

Each day can be an adventure because adventures happen in simple, everyday moments.

My Dad was an everyday explorer who found joy driving dirt roads, just to find out where they led. Despite losing Daddy too soon, I was blessed with another everyday explorer in my father-in-law. Pop Fort has always enjoyed road trips, whether venturing thousands of miles from his home, visiting familiar places, nearby towns, or riding the mower in his own yard. Although he doesn’t travel as much or as far as he once did, no matter the duration or distance of the trip, Pop explores and learns. Upon return from his travels he shares with great enthusiasm tales from the trek.

I was delighted to meet another everyday explorer when Georgie introduced herself after I spoke at a women’s conference. I was humbled as she expressed how she enjoyed my presentation. What came next was completely unexpected.

Georgie stated this occasion was her first outing of this sort, in fact, her first time to participate in a ladies’ event of any kind. She pushed back her long, straight silver locks, pointed to her unveiled ears adorned with hearing aids, and announced proudly, with twinkling eyes and a wrinkled grin, “And I am 82 years old!”

Sweet Georgie was on an adventure at that very moment and she was excited about it!  She was already dreaming of her next outing. What an inspiring close to an already beautiful evening!

It is NEVER TOO LATE to explore, learn, discover, and DREAM NEW DREAMS!  

Exploration stimulates our thinking and prevents stagnation.  Similar to Georgie’s case, exploration introduces things that transform the way we dream.

Creating the life we desire to live is not measured by the extravagance of the adventure or amount of money spent, but by recognizing God’s presence and discerning the value of feasting on our journey with Him.

Connect to God through Jesus Christ.

Explore life.

Feast on the Journey.

Seek God’s purpose and increase the size of your dreams.

 

My husband and I are in the business of investment properties.  We deal with commercial and residential, so clean up at a property is “old hat” to us.  When recently confronted with a need for work at another owner’s property for a resident we know well and dearly love, we volunteered wholeheartedly.

We were preparing the property for greater accessibility, necessitated by the resident’s mobility issues.  We worked on this property more hours than I can possibly account for because we worked on-site, in our minds, and addressing unforeseen issues revealed while working.

This project mandated I physically get into the nooks, crannies, and dark spaces, behind, above, and beneath areas which have not seen the light of day in many years.  I handled items which had not been touched in a long time.  My mind began to imagine these layers of crust could be carbon dated and found to be the actual dust which accumulated on Mt. Ararat when Noah parked the ark.

While in full swing of the project I encountered evidence of rodents, tripped traps, remains of fuzzy gray carcasses, arachnid art (arachnid art equals live spiders nearby), and dust bunnies that actually hopped!

By the way, did mice come with the ark?  Were there more than two, because what I found …

Sorry, I ran down the mouse hole.

Doing all this moving, kneeling, crouching, reaching, and stretching made me more aware than ever I am neither as young nor in shape as I would like to be.  Amazingly, as I have ascended the peak of these middle years and will, all-too-soon, be descending from its summit, I still wear the same size clothes I have worn for many years, in fact, most of my adult life.  Interestingly, they do not look the same on me.  Let’s just say, I have increased my sphere of influence (Insert eye roll & disgust).

While I may have exaggerated ever-so-slightly the plight of this incident, my testimony to life-truths is genuine.

Getting the most out of life is a result of giving the most we can give.  We do this by valuing each person we encounter.  

Although we may think we are aware of a person’s capabilities in handling their current situation, we could be mistaken.  We might only be observing the surface.  We need to give attention to the layers, the details.  People may not be ready to ask for assistance but would accept it if offered.  Our role is to recognize their value, and offer.

Love is heart attitude in action.

This experience both affirmed and confirmed the truth about love.  In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul emphasized what Christian love is, what it is not, and that any action not motivated by Christian love is wasted.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1Cor.13:1-7 NIV)

God’s love, which Paul is speaking about, is shown to us through Jesus Christ and manifested in us by His indwelling Holy Spirit.

Possessing Christ’s love compels us to carry out tasks we never thought possible.

Love reconciles us to work with uncomfortable assignments.  Love is not about how we feel. Love is about our behavior.  Love takes action to improve a situation.  Love is a call to move in the face of daunting circumstances.  Love is not about ourselves and the reward we receive for showing and expressing it.  Love is a positive pusher, a dogged driver toward something much bigger than ourselves.

When we practice love in the way of Christ, then, as Paul said, “Love never fails.” (1 Cor. 13:8)

 

Trust.  Have you noticed how many things carry this word in their titles and mottos?  Financial institutions, insurance companies, car dealers, book titles, etc.  The word is used because they want to convey a message to us that we can feel confident in working with them, placing our money and treasures with them.

Even disposable diapers want us to trust they won’t leak!

Side Note:  Personally, my relationship with disposable diapers was not always so secure.  Every new & improved diaper style brought new hope they would not leak.  In the diaper realm, when trustworthiness is lacking, the result can be a real mess!

To trust is to feel secure, to be hopeful, and to be bold in placing our confidence.

Trust is the most important factor in any relationship–work, friends, spouses, families, and business. When trust is present people are drawn together and work in cohesiveness in their efforts. When trust is absent people are separated, each going their own direction, resulting in lack of purpose and eventually chaos.

Trust is established by actions that align with our words.  It is reliable follow through; doing what we say we are going to do.  Trust comes when we speak genuine encouragement into others and do not tell what we have heard secondhand or what we think we know about people.

When the winds of someone’s poor behavior blow and we have opportunity to expose our knowledge about them, we must consider our motivation for sharing this information.  Is this an attempt to help another individual not get burned? Or, an attempt to exact a passive/aggressive and manipulative type of revenge by changing someone else’s opinion of another, thereby creating an “us against them” alliance?

The wisdom of Solomon tells us that a person who goes around as a talebearer–a gossip, a slanderer–reveals other peoples’ secrets, but a trustworthy person keeps things to himself. (Prov. 11:13)  A trustworthy person does this for the purpose of not hurting other people with their words.

The things we share about others affect our relationship with the person we are discussing (who is not present), our relationship with the person with whom we are sharing, and their relationship with the person about whom we are speaking, and all the other ripples that will go out from that conversation.

When we have established trust with people and our words and actions continue to align with that, we are safe to place the treasure of ourselves with them and they with us.  With that, we avoid the leaky messes and successful positive and productive relationships will indeed be the result.