“You are the most fascinating person you will ever know”. TD Jakes
Leaders grow in the “now” of their days or they don’t grow. Our God-given and instinctive natures require shedding yesterday’s normal in order to build on today’s opportunities. What demands are you putting on yourself? How curious are you? How well do you tolerate uncomfortable? Yesterday’s experience tends to be repetitive unless re-evaluated and stretched.
Your imagination must stay in gear, not in idle. Curiosity should drive you to explore. What if Moses had not been curious enough to check out the burning bush? What if he had gone to Egypt only to visit family and tell shepherd stories. Every great leader has the option to digress, to quieten down their enthusiasm. It was Moses’ curiosity in the presence of God that began to mature his leadership skills. God adjusted Moses’ environment and Moses allowed it. He invested himself. He awakened the hidden giant of complacency inside and sent it packing. His commitment to something bigger than shepherding sheep took center stage. At eighty, he discovered his purpose and humbly pursued it.
Leaders who treasure redundancy, over relevance, cut themselves short. Remaining relevant keeps us in the “now” of life. We have more potential to unravel. In my sixties I became an artist; in my seventies I became an author. All my life I have built teams with a desire beyond the project for which the team was built. The same is true of my art and writing. Leadership is about building people. It’s about coaching them to unfold their dormant potential. It is in stretching that leaders are fulfilled and maintain their relevance. No stretching, no relevance.
Everyone needs a place to start. Leaders provide that, otherwise, they are just managers of the routine. The innovation of a “now leader” lives at the intersection of reality and faith. God made us hardwired to ask, seek and knock. Otherwise Jesus would not have given us such a penchant for curiosity. Don’t squander it with mediocrity. Don’t dilute it. Curiosity creates dots and our God-given instinctive nature connects them, not just for us but for others.
Leaders in the “now” study themselves in all seasons. They make calculated investments in growing themselves in order to add value to others. Moses raised up Joshua as his replacement! What Moses saw in the future gained its traction in Joshua. Leaders go through transitions that try and test them. But leaders in the “now” recognize that in every transition there is the potential for transformation! Not just their own, but the transformation of others.
Consider the following truth as recorded by the Psalmist in Psalm 139:14a (PBT):
“I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex!“
Average is for those who are tired of pursuing who God made them. They’ve lost their curiosity for the mysterious complexity with which God purposed them. In Christ Jesus “now” leaders become the sum total of all that God designed them to be!
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