"...a leader..."

pre script,  you might want to start by reading "... a girl..."

Honestly it has been a very eyeopening and thoughtful time writing this post series. As I have had to stop and ponder each aspect of my life, remember why I believe what I do and am I living in that reality.

(brief history: Up until early Spring 2011 I pretended I wasn't a leader, that people didn't follow me, that I couldn't be used as a leader even if I tried. Thought that it would be a mistake to be put in any sort of authority role, and worked hard to get rid of all responsibility. Leadership is something that I've  run from for years, and though I didn't "run" from it this last year or so, this Spring is when I started looking leadership in the eye)

What it means to be a leader has been on my mind a lot over the past two months. It started with a conversation when a friend said a leader needs to see where they want to go and take people there, also that if no one is following you're not leading, a leader acts out a plan not reacts and a leader a lines themselves with God first. Then people see that and follow.  Good words and they made me stop and look at my life and consider if I am leading.

I have had to stop and ask; Where am I leading people to?
Am I being a solid base  for people to work from? Am I following through on ideas that have been intrusted to me? Am I doing things because I think a leader should do them, or because it fits, and is a healthy thing? Do I spend more energy reacting and "managing" or establishing ways of being?

Right now God is trying to teach me the great importance of hearing two things; His heart, and the heart of the people he has given me. 

Before a meeting the other day a friend said "Be the captain of the ship, steer it towards God's vision." As much as I would love to not stick out from the crowd and never have to make a decision for any group of people, I am realizing that I'm doing them all a disservice when I don't fill my role. When I don't share where we are headed and ask for them to be stretched. 

Lines that play through my head most days like today...

courage is a weapon that we use
to find some life we can't refuse 

-Over the Rhine