I have many friends who urgently deny any interest in “being a leader.” Ask them to head up a committee or host an event and they quickly decline. Some say they don’t want responsibility for controversial decisions, others express doubts about their own expertise, believing they don’t know enough to share insights with others. These misgivings uncover a limited understanding of leadership and hide the ways they may already be leading. If you’re wondering what leading is or how you do it, it’s time to discover your leadership by following your heart.
The pathway to faith fully lived, leads us to embrace all the gifts God has given us and to know ourselves as he knows us. When we graciously share these gifts with ourselves and others, we’re not following a leadership theory, we are following our heart.
Speaker and author, Jo Saxton https://www.ivpress.com/jo-saxton tells a hypothetical story in her book Ready to Rise. She imagines her reaction as a mother if she had carefully shopped for just the right Christmas presents for her daughters, but rather than unwrapping the gifts with joy and gratitude, she imagines her response if her daughters rewrapped the presents without comment and returned them to the tree. Saxton applies this analogy to the skills and talents that God has given each of us and concludes that using our gifts “is simply the overflow of a heavenly Father’s loving relationship with His Child.”
What gifts has God given you? Look to your heart as you reflect on the question. What do you choose to do without prompting? What brings increased joy the longer you are doing it? As you identify your unique areas of gifting, you may find that you discover not just your gifts but also your leadership as you follow your heart.
Discover the Best in Yourself and Others
Biblical scholar Esau McCaulley says that anyone who has stayed in fellowship in any church for a long enough time has had their heart broken by that church. He’s not really being critical of the church so much as he’s describing human connections. His comments can be applied to marriage, parenting and other relationships as well. The decision to work through difficulties, to contribute value when our own reserves are depleted, to stand firm in our convictions, to graciously disagree, and to seek common purpose are all a kind of leadership. You don’t have to serve as PTA president or be a city council member to lead.
Let Your Heart Lead the Way
Have you ever played “Follow the Leader?” Each player takes a turn to demonstrate some action that the others copy. This childhood game illustrates the diversity of leadership options open to everyone. Not all leadership actions are the same. Leaders don’t dominate the activity all the time. Sometimes they lead, sometimes they follow. The common component of leadership is that each fully participates to the benefit of others.
Do you automatically sense when someone needs a hot meal or an encouraging word? Do you follow up with action? If so, you’re a leader. Do you seek out messages that remind your social media followers of values we share, that focus on gratitude, that encourage respectful dialog? When you do that, you are leading. Do you take precious time and listen to a child, even when the story they’re telling seems pointless? Doing so, means you’re leading the next generation. Not sure you’re a leader? Chances are you’ll discover your leadership as you follow your heart.
Living Faith*Fully doesn’t compel you to act like a queen when you’d rather be a baker. Instead, faithful living centers your heart on the character and qualities that God put there. Maybe a little word study will bring this into focus https://www.etymonline.com/word/encourage. The English word encourage is formed from the Old French word for heart (corage). From corage, we get the word courage. So, a full heart emboldens and brings courage. And that little syllable en, it means to put in, or to put on. Living Faith*Fully encourages you to act upon the gifts God has given and to use them in the role that he has already placed in your heart. When you do that, you’re probably already leading in the places he has called you to lead.