Horizon

Seasickness: This condition is caused by the rocking motion of the craft. Most people tend to concentrate on the inner surroundings, or close the eyes and try to sleep. This will cause the worst effect of the disturbance.

Solution: Generally, the disturbance will cease once the visual and motion stimuli are synchronized. This can be obtained concentrating on the horizon until this appears fixed and horizontal. This is the signal that our vision has switched from the reference system of the boat to the reference system of the earth.

- Wikipedia

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Rare is the week where I don’t talk to at least one person overwhelmed by their situation.  Typically it is in regards to their own life circumstance, but it is a fairly common occurrence to talk to a leader frustrated, confused, or overwhelmed by their organizational challenges as well.  The “reference system” of everything going on around us tends to crowd out any hope or expectation for change and a different future.  When we assess the litany of issues swirling around us, it is nearly impossible to imagine things getting any better.

The early church certainly faced their own disorientation with the arrival and then death of the Messiah, but wise counsel could be found in the epistles:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

— Paul, to the Hebrews

It is that “race marked out for us” bit that I believe is so central in all of this.  There is something about fixing our eyes upon Jesus and aggressively moving toward that spot on the horizon, but in a particular way marked out for us uniquely.  Legalists would say that the race marked out for us is more particular to behavior modification and specific practice of faith, but my experience has revealed something very different and far grander.

Getting really clear about the unique “race marked out for us” has been the game-changer of all game changers in my experience.

• An organization with a clear vision, values, and purpose is much more likely to weather whatever challenges they are facing and find future success.

• A family with a clear understanding of core convictions, mission, and a desired legacy can overcome and sail more effortlessly through the highly disruptive journey of family life.

• A man or woman with a clear understanding of what God meant when He meant him or her, is a formidable beast.  With a clear understanding of gifts, abilities, passion, and desire, living a more inspired, impactful, and fulfilling future becomes an incontrovertible certainty.

Keeping our eyes clearly fixed on the “pioneer and perfecter of faith” is crucial, but it is the path we take to Him in eternity that determines everything.  It is more about the journey than the destination…

“The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end. His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.”

— Oswald Chambers

It is the trek toward Him, in a particular and uniquely inspired way and purpose, that:

• Allows us to overcome even the most daunting circumstances.

• Marks a path toward Him for family or team members to follow.

• Inspires others to join us on the journey

• Most glorifies Him

Consider

• Are you prepared for whatever may come?

• Are those that you love and lead clear about the path you are on and what the destination looks like (Vision)?

• How essential do you feel like it is to find the time, resources, and margin to get really clear on God’s intended future for you, your family, or the organization you lead?  To get clear on the next steps you are to take on the unique path you were created to walk?

Barren

“The most important thing about a man is not what he does, but what he becomes.”   

- Dallas Willard

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There is a great story told almost 2,000 years ago, it goes something like this…

“A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”

Now, most of the folks I run with are doing many of the right things. They are attending religious services, going to small group studies, doing daily intentional things. In their work, they are reading the latest and greatest books, attending conferences, sitting around tables with other leaders, and probably inhaling podcasts.

The story above seems to illustrate something really important, however. The information (or seed in this example) could be great stuff, capable of growing into glorious things. But the potency of the seed doesn’t seem to be the crucial ingredient here. The key element that is present or missing is receptivity.

We have learned that change is not possible if a person is not in pain, very motivated to do something about that pain, AND coachable. There are a lot of folks running around carrying a lot of pain. A subset of those people are in so much pain or are so tired of living with that pain, that they have become motivated to change their situation.

But an even smaller subset of those folks are actually coachable.

This rang so deeply true that I agreed with it from the very first hearing. And it has proven to be true in nearly every situation I have encountered since. We have had to tell people “no” who wanted to work with us as a result. If real change is not possible, the investment and engagement will be frustrating and disappointing for both us.

Said another way, if there is not good earth to receive the seed, nothing will grow.  And if I am honest with myself, most of my life has involved pain with varying degrees of motivation to do something about that pain. I was in a barren place where the seed would find no purchase.

But that is changing.  Having cultivated a little good receptive soil, being open to intentional and direct coaching, and seeing real changes happen in my life, things are very different. There is a tremendous amount of fear and relinquishing of control in this journey, but glory awaits on the other side. Victory and freedom have an uncommon momentum to them.

I can humbly say that the soil is richer than it has ever been.

I think that is why I am so passionate about coaching and the work we do. I want many more to experience that same freedom and momentum. I want all that stuff they are working so hard to internalize to address all that pain, to take root.

Do you know someone who is barren?  Someone working really hard to change their life or business and not seeing change?  Are they really sick of the way things are?  Are they coachable?

I’d like to talk to them.

Consider

• Do you know someone in pain?

• Are they really motivated to change things?

• Are they good soil (coachable)?

Uncommon

“Find like-hearted kings living in the same direction. Sign treaties. When they're at war, you’re at war.” 

- Dan Allender

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We’re working with two businesses with the intention of combining them. We’re early in the process, but we are off to an extraordinary start. The deeper we enter into the process, the more we realize how uncommon this is for two owners to move from the autocratic outright of a sole proprietorship to the “joint and several” of partnership.

We’re helping them guard their hearts and urging that they protect the preciousness of this process from swine looking to gobble up their enthusiasm. We are well-acquainted with the statistics and stories around partnerships…the warnings and prohibitions. That is not deterring our enthusiasm, but bringing a level of thoughtfulness and sobriety to the process that is pretty extraordinary.

We gathered for a two day off-site with the ownership from both companies. The process we walked through was so illuminating, revealing, and ultimately confirming, that we believe it is a roadmap we will walk many others down. Well before we ever talked about percentages, ownership, and dove into financial statements, we went after something far more meaningful:

True alignment.

Alignment with God - we went through deep personal and collective consecration.  We asked God big questions and got big answers about his thoughts regarding the owners and this collaboration.

Alignment of expectations - what we are after and hoping to accomplish during this time together.

Alignment personally - since both company leaders have been through LifePlan, they have a set of personal core values and a purpose statement. We aligned around the deepest and truest things about the leaders. We talked about their contrasting DISC profiles and read about their Enneagram pairing.

Aligned corporately - since both have worked with our coaching practice, both have deep and defining core values and purpose statements for their businesses. We lined them up, discussed them, found where they were similar and where they complemented in their differences.

Alignment of vision - once we found deep and committed alignment personally, corporately, and with God…once we had determined all the pros, cons, and fears associated…once we had discussed all of that, and still found growing alignment through the process and even in spite of the challenges, we wrote an inspired picture of what the combined might look like in 3 years.

Alignment of next steps - there is a lot that has to be done and we set up clear actionable items to methodically move us in the direction of consolidation.

Our enemy prowls and we are tiptoeing through piles of wreckage from so many failed previous experiments in this direction, but we are taking our time, alert-and-oriented times four, and our eyes are wide open. The uncommon steps we have already taken have spotted us quite a few touchdowns verses our opponent.

I am not a betting man, but I would put pretty good money on this one. I am a storyteller and I can’t wait to tell where the rest of this one goes. It is already a real page-turner and they are just getting started. Only God can write these kinds of stories and I am so humbled that he is letting us hold the pencil for him.

Consider

• Do you feel like you are walking alone or do you have others invested in your life and your business?

• Are you aligned with like-hearted kings (or queens) fighting in the same direction?

• Are you finding yourself in unique situations and writing uncommon stories?

Curious

“We say we are looking for character, but what we are following is clarity.”

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Every relationship, whether business or personal, needs to matriculate through three key stages:

1. Curiosity

2. Enlightenment

3. Commitment

First, something has to capture your attention.  Develop some level of curiosity.  And by the way, you are having to compete with 33,000 messages a day assaulting the average person’s attention in order for you to arouse curiosity about you, your company, or your product. 

For this reason, you better have something very compelling to offer them to develop some level of enlightenment or engagement.  You better show some level of awareness of their problems or pain and be able to position yourself as the guide or answer to those issues.  And you better do it pretty clearly and quickly (you are still competing with those 33,000 messages).

Finally, if you are able to keep engagement through the first two phases, you might just development a commitment to you or what you are offering.  Let’s face it, not only are those thirty-odd thousand people screaming at us, pretty much anything or anyone a person would want is just a few mouse clicks away.

Being really aware of your audience and clear in your messaging isn’t just better business practice, it is becoming crucial to your survival.  Let’s look at an example of what I am talking about:

1. We have a client that runs retirement communities and rehab facilities.

OR

2.  We have a client that cares for the most precious people in your life in their most vulnerable season.

The first sounds just like another of the 33,000 other pitches I might get daily.  The second sounds like something that might rouse my curiosity, allow for an opportunity to enlighten me more about how you might serve me and my needs.  Let’s just say that those two explanations above somehow make it through the noise of all those other messages.  Now we have a chance to enlighten them.

1. We have over 2,000 beds available in 20 different communities with really great food, quality of care, facilities, and rehab services.

OR

2. We know how challenging it can be to determine the path for a loved one who has reached a point in life you can no longer negotiate on your own.  We’ve existed to help others solve those problems well for over 25 years.  We’d love to help you as well.

With the second example of enlightening potential clients, you’ve taken a bold step forward in earning the right to have them form a high level of commitment to you.  You not only understand my pain, problem, or challenge, you sound like you might be the ones that can help me solve them.

You haven’t:

• …said, “Look at us and how great we are!”

• …babbled on and on about how you want them to meet your need or buy your stuff.

• …pitched them at all.

You’ve simply said:

• You have a problem.

• We understand and we care (empathy).

• We can solve your problem (authority).

The last step is a whole other blog post, but quite simply, how you position your authority determines whether or not you will get that commitment.  (Evidence again the noise of the 33,000.)

Once you’ve won their curiosity and provided enlightenment, commitment will likely be found in you oversimplifying the process of your solution.  The actual process for engaging and on- boarding a person into a retirement community is long and complicated, but how does this sound:

1. Have a brief conversation with us.

2. We’ll provide options and help craft a solution.

3. Breathe easy knowing they are taken care of.

It is no longer enough to merely do things well or even market aggressively.  If you are not rousing curiosity, enlightening them with a sense of clarity focused on solving their specific problems, you will never gain commitment.

Consider

• Do you think your company is getting enough attention?  

• Are you enjoying all the business you would like?

• Are you positioned to gain curiosity, enlightenment, and commitment?

• What is going to eventually happen to your business if you don’t?

Testament

The New Testament consists of:

• Four Narratives of the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus, called “gospels” (or “good news” accounts);

• A Narrative of the Apostles’ ministries in the early church, called the “Acts of the Apostles”, and probably written by the same writer as the Gospel of Luke, which it continues;

• Twenty-one Letters, often called “epistles” in the biblical context, written by various authors and consisting of Christian doctrine, counsel, instruction, and conflict resolution; and

• An Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation, which is a book of prophecy, containing some instructions to seven local congregations of Asia Minor, but mostly containing prophetical semiotics, about the end times.”

- Wikipedia

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I encountered a man about a half-dozen or so years ago.  Soon after, I purchased a journal to accompany him to one of the men’s retreat I help lead with my Band of Brothers.  Like most men who attend those weekends, he had never journaled before or really kept any account of his faith or relationship with God.  I told him that whether or not he had ever “heard” from the Father, he certainly would on this weekend and that it was imperative that he write down every word that was spoken.

THERE IS NOTHING MORE PRECIOUS THAN THE THINGS THE FATHER SPEAKS TO HIS CHILDREN.

Fast forward six years.  His journal is much fuller with affirmation, direction, and attestations of his life with God.  As the Father has shown up and spoken, he has dutifully accounted.

Not too long ago, he was wrestling with the fact that he was without work.  After 3 years at his last employer, the man told him that he had worked himself out of a job.  He had leaned the company out, brought new order, process, and clarity.  He got rid of inefficiency and cultivated a well performing and profitable team.  Order had been restored out of the chaos he found there. The owner felt he no longer had need of him.

In this vacuum of work and income, the Father has told him to be patient.  That He understands his predicament.  That He will rescue him.  He is waiting patiently and, of course, the whispers come.  He is wrestling with whether or not the Father is walking with him or has abandoned him. And our enemy is continually holding court.

AND WHAT IS ON TRIAL?

…WHETHER OR NOT HE CAN TRULY TRUST THE FATHER HEART OF GOD.

My friend wonders aloud if he is walking in more true and deep faith than ever before, or if he is simply carrying around a journal-recorded testament of a delusional man.  He asks if he can trust everything the Father has spoken into him… if the words written there are sacred and true.

I TOLD HIM THAT THERE IS NOTHING MORE TRUE ABOUT HIM.

His account.  His testament of how the Father has shown up, provided, and spoken affirmation and specific direction for him, is holy.  It contains the truest things about him and the life the Father intends for him to live.  It is part of his holy canon.  It is his “good news account” and contains “doctrine, counsel, instruction” divinely spoken particularly for him to rest in and humbly testify to others.

Can he trust the testimony God has written through his life?  What else could he trust?  The Christian faith is based and sourced on first-hand accounts, the testimony of men who encountered the Father in Jesus.

Consider

• How has the Father shown up in your life?

• What has He “spoken” to you?

• Are you keeping an account, a testimony of your journey?  (You’d better.  You are going to need it and so are others!)

Thread

“And once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can't go back to being normal; you can't go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.” 

- Donald Miller

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This quote, from Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years was a revolution in my life.  It was the headwaters of the river that took me from…

• not being aware that I was living a life so unfulfilling

• to awakening a deeper desire

• to a pivotal and catalyzing LifePlan experience

• to uncovering calling, purpose, and mission

• to a career and lifestyle change

• to living fully alive with a life and vocation that are invigorating and allowing me to make my greatest contribution.

I was so disrupted by this book that I have given many copies of this book away…86 so far.  How do I know?  I gave 24 away to family and friends, then I won a contest for giving them away and was given a prize of another case of 24 of them.  I ordered another 14 to give away to clients and one of the people I gave one to gave me money and asked me to buy more with the proceeds and give those away.  All 24 of that set are now gone as well.

I also gave away several cases of a book called Wild at Heart after I read it 15 years ago. 

Did I mention I am unusually passionate about the things I am passionate about?

Donald was being interviewed recently and he was asked about that quote at the top of this post.  They asked him to define what a “good story” meant to him.  He said it has these elements:

Investing in a passion project that you love…

that requires uniquely you and your contribution…

that makes the world a better place.

It is about having a reason to get out of bed in the morning that transcends you and your needs.  If it is truly meaningful, it will likely require overcoming obstacles and facing opposition.  It will also be something that you cannot accomplish alone and will require the context of a community.

Working alongside others in a mission you are passionate about that utilizes your unique contribution and is making the world a better place?  

Who would desire such a thing? 

How about…EVERYBODY!

Turns out, we are hard-wired for this.  It is in our DNA.  It is the reason we were placed here on this earth.  Oswald Chambers says that we were created to offer one aspect of the Divine’s glory that no other creature can.  Jesus says that we are to be his hands and feet and that we have been granted the same authority God granted him and that we will accomplish even greater things in Him than he did.

The reason our team is so passionate about Lifeplan is that it was the catalyst for us living into a “better story”, the one predetermined for us and just waiting for us to find.  The Group Lifeplan retreat excavates, awakens, introduces, and catalyzes the deepest and truest things about you into action.

The things people say as a result of that life-altering 24 hours is pretty staggering. 

Maybe it is time for you to think about co-authoring a different story with your life, too.

Consider

• Do you know what you uniquely have to offer that no other creature can?

• Are you living a “good story”?

• Do you have the temerity of spirit to go after finding a “good story” to live?

• Go to our LIFEPLAN site, read what others have had to say, and get signed up for our next event.

Celebrate Your Family

“How do you know if someone needs encouragement? If they are breathing!”

- S. Truett Cathy

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We’re intentional about celebrating birthdays, holidays, accomplishments, and milestones - but how often do we take time to celebrate the people right around us just for being who they are? Encouragement is something that everyone desperately needs, but few of us freely offer without some sort of “reason.”

Well, here is your reason:

Your family needs encouragement.

So do you.

This month at one of our Executive Board meetings, we encouraged our members to intentionally celebrate their families by doing a “Family Celebration Exercise.” To create a space in their schedule this holiday season to look each of them in the eye and tell them, with supporting evidence, what is so uniquely wonderful about each one of them. And then, to receive some encouragement in return.

Last Thanksgiving was the first time my husband and I did this with our family. We gave the girls a day or so to think about what they were going to say, and then he started the conversation in the car on the way to Fort Worth. One of the girls had a page of encouraging words written out and was using an online thesaurus to broaden her celebration vocabulary; the other one picked one word and pretty much adapted it for everyone. (Classic!)

It was equal parts awkward, funny, life-giving and wonderful - but 100% unforgettable and totally worth it! Our hearts were all soaring pretty high by the time we were finished, and I’m still encouraged to this day by the words that were spoken. We’re planning to do it again this year, and every year after that.

We wanted to share this step-by-step guide with you so you can do your own version of the “Family Celebration Exercise,” adapted from the book called The Cure and Parents. Like pretty much everything we do around here, it is simple - but not easy. That’s why, along with the basic framework, we’ve included some information to help you manage your expectations, call you out on the excuses you will find to not do this exercise and prepare you for the mild awkwardness that will likely accompany it...if you should be so brave.

Click on the button below to download the step-by-step guide from our EB_11 content. Then, email us and tell us how it went so we can celebrate your celebrating!

Simplified

"I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” 

- Mark Twain

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I was at a non-fiction writing conference a few years ago. We had a writing exercise that required we describe the same scenario through a decreasing word count. As the word count shrunk, I just started using bigger words so that I could pack more information into the tinier space. When I read my most condensed statement with all the big words, the exasperated instructor said:

Just say the damn thing!!!

I seem to be recalling that statement from the instructor and the quote from Mark Twain all the time. We live in a world where it seems like most communication is happening about things that don’t truly matter and we’re using very few words wrapped in very little punctuation, syntax, or even proper spelling. (Evidence: most texting and twitter).

Because we seem to be drowning in the brief and unimportant, it makes it really difficult to say the things clearly that are truly important.  We are helping a lot of people refine their message, their mission, and even the expectations of their employees.  Simple, powerful, and direct language is an increasingly rare commodity.

The temptation, in a very noisy and superficial world, is to speak louder and more excessively.  Ironically, the answer is the opposite.  We need to simplify and be even more clear.

I think is interesting that when the Pharisees tried to trick Jesus by asking spiritual tongue twisters about the law, he instead responded with radical simplicity.  He brushed aside their conundrum and simply said, 

“Love God and love others as you love yourself.”

No conditions, no qualifications. No need to describe what it looks like, how it might apply in different situations, or if it was intended for only certain people.  Basically, He just said the dang thing.

As the world gets more complicated and overwhelming, keeping your company messaging, your internal/external communications, and even employee expectations clear, is going to become even more essential.  

Having a clear, specific, and powerful purpose statement has never been more important.

Being anchored is values that define and guide your work and team are more valuable than ever.

Having an inspiring vision that motivates and focus your team has never been more crucial to survival and future success.

Building a detailed strategic plan with accountability is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.

Consider

• Is your purpose, values, and vision clear?

• Do your employees really know what is expected of them, how they are supposed to achieve those results, and how they will be measured?

• Is your messaging clear both internally and externally?

• What is it costing you to not be clear on those things and how much more will it cost you as the world gets more noisy?

Abundance

abundance

[uh-buhn-duhns]

noun

1. an extremely plentiful or oversufficient quantity or supply

2. overflowing fullness

3. affluence; wealth

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The last thing we need to be worried about in this country at this time in history is abundance, right? We’ve got it pretty good:

• Median household income of $59k when the world average is $9k.

• A national median home price of just under $200k.

• An almost 50 year low of 3.7% jobless rate.

• A national health system making care available for all.

Things are awesome, right?  

It doesn’t exactly feel that way, does it?  

Why do you think that is?  

While there are many reasons, I’d like to focus on two of them.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

— Jesus of Nazareth

1. The enemy of joy seems to be working overtime.

2. Our definition of life to the full (abundance) is a little off.

The first is a spiritual reality, stated pretty matter-of-factly here, that far too many of us fail to realize.  C.S. Lewis said that one of our great mistakes is that we either make too much of the devil or not enough.  The reality that we are living in a fallen and broken world shouldn’t require too much convincing at this point.  (Who you source all that trouble to is more of a theological question; one that our 500 words here won’t allow us to dive too deeply into.)

Jesus seems to be saying; the first statement is a reality, but I came to not only fix that, but do something really extraordinary in spite of that. So moving to the second idea here, what does abundance really look like? What kind of abundance does he mean?

Maybe it sounds like some of the things we just heard at our last Lifeplan retreat:

“I can sense already a waking up, a new stirring and a sense of possibility, combined with an action plan that has emerged from this weekend.”

“The time, work, and process has brought clarity to the chaos of ideas that have been swirling in my head for months/years.  I’m more excited and certain about next steps than I maybe have ever been.”

“It is a freeing experience which allows you to envision how you can make an impact now and throughout the balance of your life.”

“I realized a deeper sense of spirituality in the process and my life has a revised path that I cannot wait to live!”

If abundance looks anything like that, I want more. These pictures of “abundance” seem to fly in the face of all the conventional thinking on the topic. There isn’t anything about income, employment, or wealth in those hopes and aspirations articulated above. I just hear more life and life to the full. Living more fully as they make a greater contribution to this world.

Consider

• How would you define abundance? 

• Do you consider your life to be abundant based on that definition?

• How much do you think it is costing those you love and lead to not be operating with “overflowing fullness” as the definition above states?

• What do you think you need to do about it?

Gold

“The glory of God is man fully alive.”  

- Saint Irenaeus  

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One of my favorite scenes from film involves a crackpot, bush-pilot philosopher named Rosie Little. He is flying a scientist named Tyler to the Valley of the Blackstone in northern Alaska. He is trying to figure out what kind of treasure he is really after.  When Tyler won’t tell him, Rosie says,

“We're all of us prospectors up here, eh, Tyler? Scratchin' for that... that one crack in the ground. Never have to scratch again. I'll let you in on a little secret, Tyler: the gold's not in the ground. The gold's not anywhere up here. The real gold is south of 60 - sittin' in livin' rooms, stuck facin' the boob tube, bored to death. Bored to death, Tyler.”

The point is clear and well taken, the treasure of this world is not in the traditionally thought of resources; gold, silver, diamonds, or even oil (although many people in my neck of the woods would probably argue that last item)…

The real treasure is people. 

Our greatest natural resource and the one that the squandering of is costing us most, is people.

Last weekend I was part of a team that led a large company of men through a “Boot Camp”.  We’ll actually do it again on February 7-10 and registration is open. The most humbling thing about this particular weekend, out of the dozen and a half or so we’ve done, is that every man except one had already been to a previous event of ours.  And 80% of these attendees were banded with other men and are now leading similar retreats/ministries out of what they experienced there.

I’ve never been a part of anything that replicated itself so beautifully and nothing could have made us more proud. This is the fulfillment of our greatest heart’s desire to see the work expand beyond our team.

On Sunday, after three days of on-and-off rain, the sun came out and we were blessed with an incredible sunrise. As I looked across the infield, I saw four of the men who have banded together and are offering their own similar retreat on November 15-18. I started to take a picture of the technicolor sky, but my attention immediately went to the four men.

Rosie Little’s statement rang in my ears.  Despite how amazing that sunrise was, the real gold, the glory really, was those four brave men that have banded together with the joint desire to rescue and free others. The men looking at the sunrise were the real treasure, not the sunrise itself.

May our successful leading of companies, families or ministries, not end with us, but multiply to others and into subsequent generations.

Consider

• Do you feel like the leadership of your business, ministry, or family is producing real fruit?  

• How do you know?

• Are there others imitating or leveraging their experience with you  on their own?

• Are they honoring and celebrating the way you led them?

Ikigai

Ikigai (生き甲斐, pronounced [ikiɡai]) -

A Japanese concept meaning "a reason for being."  Everyone, according to the Japanese, has an ikigai.  Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self.  Such a search is regarded as being very important, since it is believed that discovery of one's ikigai brings satisfaction and meaning to life. 

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Your ikigai is found at the intersection of…

• The things you love

• The things you are good at

• The things others will pay you to do

• What the world needs

It is at the crossroads of…

• Passion

• Profession

• Vocation

• Mission

In the simplest terms, it is your reason for being; the thing that gets you up in the morning.  There might be other nuances to this expression that don’t line up with my Christian ideology, but it seems to point toward the answer to the fundamental question that haunts all of us:

WHY DO I EXIST?

Scripture tells how we are uniquely created and wonderfully made. C.S. Lewis points out that each one of us uniquely offers one particular aspect of the Divine that no one else can. We are told that we are the crown of His creation and were placed here specifically to rule and subdue all that exists. Clearly, we are here for a particular reason.

“Don’t ask what the world needs, rather, ask what makes your heart come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is men whose hearts have come alive.

— William H. Macy

If it is the “beautiful collision” of the world’s great need, your passion and desire, and the unique purpose of our creation (the way God’s glory will be most powerfully proclaimed), we shouldn’t be surprised by how opposed it seems:

• It is exhausting, exhilarating, draining, and invigorating, all at the same time.

• It sometimes seems incredibly difficult and yet you can’t imagine doing anything else with your life.

• It paradoxically is both the hardest and easiest thing to do.

We’ve also learned that clarity about your life leads to clarity for your families, organizations, and companies. And elusive as it might seem, we know hundreds of people who are experiencing the clarity, momentum, and freedom of knowing who they are and why they exist.

It doesn’t always work out this way, but we would always prefer that a business owner or senior leader go through the LifePlan process and be really clear about the purpose for their lives before we start working with their teams.  

The organizations you lead and the roles you play there should support and fulfill the purpose for your life, not the other way around. More often than not, we see leaders completely unaware of their calling or purpose other than what their vocational role might dictate.

It is our contention that you are not only created for a particular purpose but that your Creator desperately wants you to know what it is. The clues are written on your heart, have been evident throughout your life, and are fully embodied in the things that bring you greatest joy, deepest pain, and get you out of bed in the morning.

Consider

• Are you ready to live with more momentum, power, and clarity?

• Are you ready to understand more about the role you were created to play?

• Spend some time looking into our LifePlan experience and follow the stirring of your heart about whether or not to attend.

Tide

"If you do not cut the moorings, God will have to break them by a storm and send you out.  Launch all on God, go out on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and you will get your eyes open.” 

-Oswald Chambers

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We met a couple during our trip to Colorado.  They’ve recently acquired a guest ranch that has been in existence for decades.  The story about how this all happened is too beautiful and extensive for me to try and share in the 500 words of this post, but I might give that a try on another day.

Among all the inspiring things we talked about during the long afternoon we shared, the career path he took to this vocational stint was particularly interesting.  

He had been:

• A policeman

• A secret service agent

• A pastor of an inner city church

• An overseer of a street ministry

• On staff at a large church

He is an outdoorsman, committed family man, and a person who has a very intentional heart for the restoration of others, especially younger men. While his preparation and path to owning and running a guest ranch sounded haphazard and illogical, it felt incredibly familiar.  I told him…

“I feel like everything I have ever done or experienced is being monetized in almost every work conversation I have every day.”

He said that perfectly summarized his experience.  

Nothing has been wasted.  Everything he has ever done or learned is finding its’ perfect complement in what he is doing every day.  What seemed haphazard or illogical by the world’s standards, seems powerfully intentional and purposeful in Kingdom terms.  His whole life up to this point has been preparation for his current assignment.

The major theme of the gospel is restoration. There is a way that everything is and a way that it was intended to be. And our faith is rooted in the One who came to set it all right.  Put it all back together.  Redeem everything. 

To pursue the Father’s intentions for your life is to make agreement with that plan and preparation that has been at work your entire life.  To acknowledge that your whole life has been prologue to the story he intends you to write on his behalf.

There is no other life worth living.

My new friend and I both sat in wonder and humility of the privilege of knowing we had located and were living into that intended glory.  And we grieved deeply for those that don’t know the same.

Launching all on the swelling tide of God’s purpose for your life may look haphazard and illogical to others, but nothing will every be more right.  

Ask to get your eyes opened.  

Embrace what you see.

Find a life more extraordinary than you imagined possible.

Consider

• Do you feel like your life has perfectly prepared you for something?

• Do you feel like everything you have ever done is being monetized in this current season of your life?

• Would you be willing to give up everything in order to get everything?

• A Lifeplan retreat gave me the incontrovertible evidence and courage to pursue that life, where will you find it?

Seasons

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

- Pete Seeger of the “Byrds” borrowing liberally from Ecclesiastes

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I grew up as a beach rat.  Hanging out at the shore and dunes of a small back bay that was reachable by foot or bike as a young boy and then to a much larger beach and National seashore by car as a teenager.  My time on the shores was largely unfettered and unsupervised.  That led to all kinds of great boyhood stuff early and all kinds of destructive behavior as I aged.

One of the things a coastal community of South Texas didn’t provide for much of was a traditional change of seasons.

• There was a hurricane season and then a non-hurricane one.

• There were the infrequent days where barefoot and shirtless meant you were a bit cold and all the rest when you weren’t.

• There was the seemingly endless summer and then the interruption of the school year.

But in the way that most people would think of the changing of seasons, we didn’t really experience that.  Living on the edge of the Texas Hill Country now, I get a little more of a sense of seasons, but it is still pretty different than most understand.  

As a father and coach, the ideas of seasons has taken on a whole new meaning.  There are seasons of:

• first grandchildren

•  an empty nest

•  leadership transitions

•  growing/scaling businesses

•  owner to team led conversions

•  transitioning family businesses to next generations

My wife and I are wrapping up a weeklong escape to our beloved Colorado.  There is something about experiencing the physical change of seasons that brings insight, understanding, and clarity to the more philosophical ones.  The aspens and others that we encounter on our Jeep rides (like in the picture in this post) make the coming of seasons feel glorious and pregnant with expectation.

That is how it should be.

While there is uncertainty in every coming change of season, we should embrace the unknown with “breathless expectation” as my beloved Oswald says.  There is a way things work in the Kingdom of God and everything has an appropriate time and season.  Our job is to lean into and embrace the change.  To seek interpretation from wisdom both here and beyond.

Consider

• Are you in a change of season?  Life, family, or professionally?

• Are you leaning into that change and finding clear interpretation for what is going on?

• Are you facing those changing seasons with the fear of uncertainty or with “breathless expectation”?

Right

“The hardest right to give up is the right to be right.”  

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The last few organizations I got involved with heard a similar refrain from me…

“I’m not interested in leading or being in charge of anything.”

I am not joining your organization or board.  I am not taking an officer position or signing up to chair anything.  I mean, I feel like I lead or am in charge in every other arena of my life.  Decisions don’t seem to get made and nothing seems to happen unless I am driving it.  Can you relate?

That’s a problem right? 

My problem.

Turns out that I kind of like being in charge.  I typically end up in a leadership position of whatever I am a part.  I don’t necessarily like being responsible for everything, but I kind of think that my opinion is typically the right one.  I like things to go my way.  The world makes more sense when everything goes according to plan.

My plan.

The problem with that mindset is that it makes life feel overwhelming.  It doesn’t empower anyone else.  And while I may be right some of the time, I am not right all of the time.  In fact, I am often wrong or at least not as “right" as someone else might be.

The most difficult right to give up is the right to be right.

Like many of our clients, I loved the idea of my teams:

• Sharing responsibility 

• Taking ownership

• Actually making their own decisions

• Being part of a shared leadership team

And like many of our clients, I loved that idea….conceptually.  But when it meant that I actually had to allow other’s opinions to be valued, my conviction wavered.  I had to trust that the collective leadership opinion might be different and better than my own.  I had to allow some ownership of something in order for them to operate with that kind of mindset.

I am getting better at including others.  One of our team members says that I often say things like…

• What do you think we should do?

• I trust your judgment.

• I am okay with whatever you decide.

• Etc.

I am a recovering control freak.  I am learning to surrender the right to be right.  It actual feels very liberating.  The things I am part of are making better decisions and making them faster.  More is getting done and I don’t feel so personally burdened.  I am learning that while my opinion may be awesome, it may be less awesome than theirs. 

I have always believed that the collective wisdom and experience of the right leadership team will make better decisions than even the brightest owner.  I not only believe that, I am finding it to be true.

Consider

• Do you want your team to take great ownership, lead independently of you, and join you in the burden/responsibility of running your company, organization or family?

• Do you think you can really surrender the right to be right?

• How could you start start implementing shared responsibility in small ways? Who could you start saying things to like “it is your decision”, “I trust your decision” or “I am okay with whatever you decide”?

Deepest

Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

- Matthew

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When the religious were trying to overcomplicate things, even confuse things, Jesus really made it clear. Almost as if he were establishing a hierarchy of things. As if he was telling them that all their rules, prohibitions, laws, judgments, tips and techniques are pretty much worthless if you aren’t first accomplishing these two simple (but not easy) things:

Love God.

Love others.

I think the lack of this…the lack of the reciprocal of this…is all our deepest longing.  When the bible talks about all creation groaning for the coming Kingdom and the restoration of all things, I think this is one of the things we are groaning for most deeply.

Connection. belonging, someone to fight for as they are fighting for us, etc. To be known, seen, contended for, and loved. A table that is set for us with a unique place for us to sit.  Fred Rogers said that love or lack of love is at the root of every solution and every problem. 

I think this was at the heart of…

• almost every relationship I’ve had

• every home group I have been a part of

• every larger faith gathering

• even a failed church that was birthed out of our house

Every larger gathering is trying to break into smaller ones (at least for one night a week) to get closer to this. They all want to cultivate small fellowships of the heart that the larger gathering almost seems to be preventing by its’ form and function.

I once printed copies of the chapter “Fellowships of the Heart” from John Eldredge’s Waking the Dead and distributed it to the members of our five family home groups before a weekend getaway. I wanted to share the idea, get everyone swept up in the possibility, and extract commitments from everyone. I was long on heart and short on discernment and leadership.

They all seem interested in taking a deeper and bolder step, but nothing became of it.

A friend and fellow home group participant just shared page 178-179 from I’ll Push You by Justin Skeesuck. He dared greatly and asked that we all read it and give him some feedback. I was humbled by his courage to risk this with us. It brought to mind many things: The intentionality behind the last supper, what Jesus was saying when he talked about the two great commandments, and the deepest longing in all of us.

Hope arises again. My groaning rests. I will likely not know what deep fellowship, love, community, and restoration of all things really feels like this side of the Kingdom eternal, but I’ll never stop hoping.

A little secret: I think this is the deeper and greater desire that every person carries into their work and workplace. It is why simple things seem to become such big things, why things are so emotionally charged, and why so many engagements end in disappointment and failure.

Am I painting with too broad a brush?

Am I connecting too many dots?

Am I adding 1 + 2 and coming up with 10?

Maybe, but I don’t think so.  We will spend our entire lives trying to requite our deepest desires.  We are looking for answers everywhere.  I think we are finding them less and less and so the groaning is rising more and more.  Don’t believe me, just read the papers and check the evening news.

Like no other time in history, making sure our families, companies, etc. are about something (values, purpose), that they are clearly going somewhere (vision), and that we are relentless about creating healthy environments where people are known, seen, and loved has never been more important.

I think everything depends on it.  

I know that everything Jesus came to bring us rests on it.

Consider

• Do the people you employ, the members of your family, and even the participants in your other gatherings feel known, accepted and loved?

• How deeply do you think you might change lives if that was the offering of the things you lead?

• What needs to happen next to move in that direction?

Intentional

“Nothing more is required of us than that which we can do in union with God.”

- Cherie Snyder

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When we surveyed local leaders, one of the things they mentioned struggling with was maintaining a healthy life/work balance.  The demands of their work not only kept them at the office more than they liked, it tended to follow them home as well.

As a result we spend a lot of time studying Jesus’ way of doing things with the leaders with whom we work.  Despite the incredible mission he came to accomplish and contrary to our Western culture sensibility; he lived a slow, steady, and unhurried life.

There is as much written about him getting away to rest, recharge, and reconnect with Father as there is written about him accomplishing things.  Even when he was doing stuff, he worked pretty hard to not call attention to himself, as in “don’t tell anybody about this” after he had done something miraculous or “come away from the city with me” when it was about to happen.

He was incredibly intentional about everything.

If you read or listen to much leadership or motivational content, you are likely a high achiever and are probably pretty intentional…about getting stuff done.  And not only the work stuff, the ministry stuff as well.  And who could argue against that.  “I’ve got more work to do” or “I need to tend to some ministry stuff” is sort of the nuclear option for most intentional folks.  “I got stuff to do and it is pretty important.”

The problem is that Jesus wasn’t just intentional about getting things done.

He was intentional about rest.

He was intentional about relationships.

He was intentional about time with the Father.

He was intentional about getting away.

One of the leaders we have been challenging about slowing down, getting soul care, not living a life of regret, and being intentional about the things that really matter took things to whole other level this Summer.  After reflecting on the lost Summer of 2017, he vowed to do something about it in 2018.  

Here is what he did:

• Weekend 1 - ZDT’s amusement park in Seguin

• Weekend 2 - Port Aransas Beach

• Weekend 3 - Nacogdoches Blueberry festival (won pie eating contest, daughter got 3rd in kid’s division)

• Weekend 4 - Stonewall Peach Jamboree - son mutton busted

• Weekend 5 - Luling Watermelon Thump - Participated in the watermelon eating and seed spitting contests

• Weekend 6 - family reunion in Brenham & then Port Aransas with friends

• Weekend 7 - hiked nature trails in Boerne and then swam in the lake

• Weekend 8 - rented RV, drove entire route 66 portion of Texas, became part of the world’s largest human shamrock & got in the Guinness Book of World Records

• Weekend 10 - climbed Guadalupe mountain with kids (highest point in Texas) & went to Carlsbad Caverns

• Weekend 11 - took family to Disney World

• Weekend 12 - family birthday at a ranch

• Weekend 13 - took kids back to ZDT’s amusement park

• Weekend 14 - another family birthday at ranch & then Canoeing on the Colorado river

• Weekend 15 - Port Aransas family trip w/friends

• Weekend 16 - drove kids to Dallas to have a meal at his favorite restaurant that was closing after 106 years

I asked him if he was exhausted or “full” from the experience and he said “both”.  Satisfied and exhausted like sitting in an Adirondack chair on the deck you wore yourself out creating.  Tired like you are after a good workout or after knocking out some projects in the yard.  Tired, but a good tired.

He intentionally focused his kid’s summer weekends on creating meaningful experiences.  On valuing them and their time.  On working hard at creating memories that they will carry for life.  That kind of intentional inspires and disrupts all the things I intentionally pursue that keep from the life Jesus intended.

Consider

• Are you an intentional person?

• Are you intentional about the right things?

• Are some of those “right things” crowding out some other important ones?

• What needs to change to rebalance your intentionality?

Soul

“Our soul is like a stream of water, which gives strength, direction, and harmony to every other area of our life. When that stream is as it should be, we are constantly refreshed and exuberant in all we do, because our soul itself is then profusely rooted in the vastness of God and his kingdom, including nature; and all else within us is enlivened and directed by that stream. Therefore we are in harmony with God, reality, and the rest of human nature and nature at large.” 

- Dallas Willard

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Our days are getting crowded and more full with increasing stimuli vying for our attention.  I am more aware of the noise and distraction than I have ever been.  And that is even after establishing some pretty strong boundaries:

• I severely limit my involvement and intake of social media.  For instance, I only follow my children, wife, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law on Instagram.  I am not on Facebook.

• I try to limit television intake and prefer to watch recorded shows where I can fast-forward through all commercials.

• I regularly unsubscribe to all the noise that piles up in my inbox over time.

• I haven’t read or listened to any news source in almost 10 years.

Interestingly enough, I am regularly challenged on most of the measures I have taken to quiet things.  Not by the menacing growl of all those beasts fighting for my attention, but by people who regularly partake in them and seem bothered by the fact that I am not.

I recently wrote about the need for soul care in “Attendance” a few months ago.  It turns out that ordering my life with “soul care” as one of the top priorities has been as disruptive to my life as it has been for others.

Disruptive for good, but disruptive nonetheless.

I am privileged to spend my vocational life in very close alignment with my calling, God’s particular intention for my life.  And while calling is…

…not what you do, but how you do what you do…

…it makes for a pretty fulfilling vocational life to operate so close to that intended purpose.  I get a ringside seat to so much clarity, victory, restoration, and transformation.  

It is a privilege.  

It is an honor.

It can even become pretty exhausting…without the proper soul care.

I am not feeling refreshed and exuberant in all I do.  The tank is a little empty.  Despite so much goodness going on here, I have to go to the mountains.  In order to prepare to participate in all that God has for me to do, I need to get away for some soul care.

So do you.

I want to be profusely rooted in the vastness of God and his kingdom.

I want harmony with God, reality, human nature, and nature at large.

I want my soul to be like a stream of water, which gives strength, direction, and harmony to every other area of my life.

I want my soul to be ready to offer the same to others.

The mountains are calling and so I must go.  Please pray for my time with my wife in Colorado from Sept 26 - Oct 3.

Consider

• How full or empty is your tank running?

• Do you feel like your soul is a stream of water offering strength, harmony, and direction to every area of your life?

• Are you able to be that kind of stream for your family or the people you lead vocationally?

• Where do you need to get away to?  When does that need to happen?

Critic

“An unexamined life is not worth living.” 

- Socrates

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As a man who felt like life had taught him that he would always be alone, examining life is something that I spent a lot of time doing.  But I wasn’t examining my own, I was just being critical of everyone else’s.  Doing life on my own meant that I was constantly surveying the landscape for anything I could find about others’ lives to criticize as a way to momentarily feel better about my own.

That is a lonely and hard place to live.

Being critical is necessary at times.  It is a way that we thoughtfully gauge what is right and true.  But when it becomes a primary lens for how you see the world (and you become a critic), it isn’t good for you or anyone else around you.  It was brutal for the people I lived with and those that worked for me.

It reminds me of the intro to that great quote from Roosevelt about the man in the arena:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.”

It is far easier not to risk, but to sit in the seat of pointing out the inevitable mistakes of those who do.  Despite the knowledge that the best learning comes not from easily succeeding, but in the figuring out a way forward out of mistake or tragedy, it is still easier to watch and evaluate than participate.  

I even took the gospel of love and turned it into a weapon I wielded to disqualify and judge verses woo.  

I didn’t seek to understand, but to discredit.

I didn’t seek to find common ground, but further distance the territory I occupied.

I didn’t operate in the service of love, but in the service of accusation.

I didn’t approach others with a heart for what I could learn, but with the objective of looking for anything I could find to discredit what they had to say.

I believed that because I didn’t agree with something someone said, I had to disagree with everything they say.  How sad.

Rescue came first in the form of an examined life.  The reality is that I am not alone.  I have a great wife, many children, close friendships, and many other intimate relationships.  I enjoy the camaraderie and respect of many.  I am loved.  But more importantly I follow a God who loves me, sees me, and cares about me intimately.

My life has purpose, meaning, and value.  The better I saw myself and the deeper understanding I had of my true identity, the less I needed to take from others.  The less I needed their attention and validation and the less compelled I felt to tear them down to lift myself.  I can approach others out of a posture of offering and not taking.

It also meant that I am less afraid.

I don’t have to discredit everything someone says because I disagree with some of what they say.  I can appreciate that the glory of God is in every single one of His image-bearers, even in the ones that don’t cry his name or even align with my brand.  I am open to experiencing God in more of His creation.

I am more whole-hearted.

Consider

• Are you whole-hearted?

• Are you assuming glory in everything in everyone you meet?

• Is your cup so full that it spills over onto everyone you encounter?

• What lens are you viewing your world through?

• What do you think it is costing your family, employees, or others you lead to not be more whole-hearted?

Subversive

“When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.” 

- Luke, the Physician

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Interesting that the “people” in this situation are the common folks and the “opponents” or enemy in this story are the religious elite. Jesus was always taking on and overturning kingdoms that were in conflict with the Kingdom…even religious ones.

sub·ver·sive

səbˈvərsiv/

adjective

1. seeking or intended to subvert an established system or institution.

He chose a different way.  He didn’t submit to their power.  He shunned the established norms.  He bucked the system.

When he dared to heal in opposition to their interpreted sense of right and wrong, they weren’t just angry, they were indignant.  How dare this man operate in conflict with their established norms of behavior! They completely missed the fact that he was operating from the heart of God in the service of love.

The fact that someone chose to go against their rules and subverted their power was the unforgivable sin.

In the award-winning documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, they celebrate the life of a similar subversive.  He took everything you were supposed to do to create a successful children’s show and did the complete opposite.  Low production values, very slow moving pace, poor acting, and no slapstick energy or comedy.

As an ordained Presbyterian minister, he approached the work with a missional fervor that television has likely ever seen or probably even understood.  When the race issues in our country resulted in black children being chased from public pools and people even trying to poison or taint the water to get them out

Fred fired back.

In his peaceful and quiet way, but powerfully subversive and in the service of love.  In his next episode, he decided to cool his feet on a warm day in a small swimming pool.  When his friend, an African-American policeman, stopped by, Fred asked him to take off his shoes and cool his feet with him.  And with both their feet bare and “swimming” in the same pool,

Fred looked up at the camera with a devilish grin.

In his own way.

Out of his unique creation.

As an image bearer of the Divine.

He was taking on hatred.

He was acting in the service of love.

He was being a subversive.

He was being Jesus.

He didn’t picket against hatred the way the religious picketed him.  He didn’t shout angry opposition like he often received.  He was Jesus with skin on and he was doing what had been modeled for him.  He was subverting the way of a fallen world in the service of the Kingdom.

His opponents were humiliated and the people (at least some of them) rejoiced.

Consider

• Who are you taking your cues from?

• Who are you modeling your behavior after?

• Have you ever considered yourself to be subversive?

• Are you willing to sometimes do the “wrong” things in world’s eyes in service of the “right” ones as defined by the Kingdom?

Rule

“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'”

- Moses

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It was always intended that we would lead.  Over our families, businesses, organizations, and pretty much everything, according to Moses.  We were all born to lead.  That taking charge, initiating, and trying to negotiate everything going on around us, is actually holy.  Or at least rooted in something holy.

At the heart of every great story is a…

...hero who decides to use their power for good and not evil.

...villain who decides to use their power for evil and not good.

Opposite sides of the same coin.  Both emanating from power, desire, and the interest in having things go their way.  The origin stories we are finding in some of the best superhero movies these days (Black Panther, Wonder Woman, & Batman Begins come to mind) tell us the reason why some would choose to use their power for good and some for evil.

All emanating from a beautiful, God-ordained desire to rule and subdue.  To lead is one of the deepest and holiest of desires.

“Our desire reveals something about our design.
Our design reveals something about God’s intention.
That desire is the Imago Dei in you…
the image of God in you.”

— Morgan Snyder

In fact, that desire is the very nature of God in us.  My Enneagram number is 8.  I disliked that profile more than any others.  Hoped it wasn’t mine.

“Eights are self-confident, strong, and assertive. Protective, resourceful, straight-talking, and decisive, but can also be ego-centric and domineering. Eights feel they must control their environment, especially people, sometimes becoming confrontational and intimidating. Eights typically have problems with their tempers and with allowing themselves to be vulnerable. At their Best: self-mastering, they use their strength to improve others' lives, becoming heroic, magnanimous, and inspiring.”

Donald Trump, Napoleon, Gandhi, and Mother Theresa are all considered to be eights.  That gives you some kind of idea of how a person with this type of personality can use their power for good or evil, but it is the same for all of us.

We were all created to lead.

It is a deeply rooted desire in all of us.

We all use our power for both good and for evil.

Just being aware that I possess the potential to operate at both ends of that continuum is helpful.  Sanctifying that desire, submitting to the Imago Dei inside of me, has helped in tipping the scale toward the good.  But our enemy prowls like a roaring lion, whispering that all that power and desire should be all about me.

My prayer this day is that the power and desire in me will be guided by the one who gave it life in me.

Consider

• Do you know that you were created to lead?
• Did you know that your desire to control and direct things is actually rooted in something holy?
• Did you know that your power can be used both for good and evil?
• Which will you choose?