Loved

“I realized a couple of years ago that I feel the love of the Father the most while holding a baby…a friend asked if I would like to come hold her baby…While holding him, the Father says to me, ‘the way you tenderly love and adore this baby is the same way I tenderly love and adore you.”
- Kate Schroller

I guess that is sort of a strange title for a business leadership blog, but it may be more appropriate than any other title I have chosen.  Because knowing how fully I am loved as a son has changed everything about how I lead.  Interestingly enough, it has made me stronger and more resolved…even formidable (as some people have identified) in my leadership.

You can’t offer what you don’t fully possess.

There is a correlation between the depth of love I offer to my children and the directness of my leadership of them.  It is the same with anyone that you lead.  There is an “earning the right” to say the direct, challenging, and difficult things.  The degree to which I show that I am “for” someone is related to the degree to which I can lead them in strength and integrity.

Interestingly enough, we are not only created uniquely and particularly, but our Father loves us uniquely and particularly as well.  The way I experience the love of the Father is unique among every other person in creation.  Similarly, the pet names and specific things I love about my children are completely unique to each one of them.  It is the same with Him and us.

For me it is when I am riding in my Jeep, hosting friends for a meal, in the mountains of Colorado, writing, encouraging people, listening to beautiful music, or sharing focus time with my wife and children.

My wife Kate told me recently that she most feels the love of the Father when she has a baby in her arms.  That picture is one she took while holding our friend’s new baby.  She added those comments when she posted it on her Instagram.  Because she is really clear on how she is loved and adored, she loves and adores others really well.

It is part of the way she uniquely bears the image of the divine and one of the ways she profoundly changes other people’s lives.  

She does this in a way that is particular to her, but there is an intended purpose for every one of us.

His plan for making himself known was for us to uniquely reflect His glory in a way that no other creature can.  It is in the unique offering of each one of us that He is most powerfully and collectively known.  It is the ultimate reason that we all exist.

Kate is really clear about this.  Are you?

• Do you know that you are loved?
• Do you know if fully enough that it is reflected in how you lead others?
• What is not knowing how you are loved costing your family and the teams you lead?