LeadershipConneXtions

What If?

 

 

Great Questions

The way to envision the future.

 

Okay, it is Tuesday morning. By Wednesday you are in your routine (or rut) plowing on to the end of the week. Maybe you are feeling a bit lethargic already... or hopefully - restless.

Here is a simple leadership exercise. I think it will energize you.

Get out a piece of paper. Write in big words across the top of the page:

What If?
************* 

Now, start praying and listening, dreaming and writing . . . and see where you go.

Try to write at least ten such scenarios. Don't be afraid to be wildly creative and to go far outside the box. Don't avoid "sacred cows" (that is the untouchable things because this is how we have always done them).

I have a friend who is great at What If questioning. And he changes things a lot by pushing the limits with this way of thinking. Almost always, those changes are for the better. (Actually, as I stop and think about it, I have a lot of friends who are good at this. Which is why they are leaders and which is why they are making a difference.)

Go ahead, give it a try.

Better yet, get a few friends together and do it together.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Lifting Others Up

 

The Essence
of Great Leadership

It always involves making others
around you - better!

 

Here is a pretty good definition of leadership. I changed the gender to make it inclusive.

Leadership is the lifting of a person's vision to higher sights,

the raising of his or her performance to a higher standard,

the building of their personality beyond its normal limitations.

(Peter Drucker, Management, 463)

I love this because it is so developmental. It is empowering of others, not coercing. It is resourcing them to be all they can be.

While there is more to leadership than this, you can't have great leadership without it.

So, today:

whose vision will you lift higher?
whose performance will you enhance?
whose inner world will you set free?

And if you aren't doing this, when will you start?

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com 

The Future: Predicting It or "Creating" It?

 

 

The Future

What you can and can't do about it.

 

This idea has been around for some time. I don't know whether Peter Drucker was the first to say this, but he certainly made it popular.

"You cannot predict the future,
but you can create it"
(Drucker).

I like to read the "futurists" who try to predict the future. Sometimes they do a decent job, looking at current trends and extrapolating what these trends may look like if carried forth into the future.

But the thing to note is that the future MAY look like this IF trends continue. So often the trends are not continued and so the future does not look like what was predicted.

Here is where strategic planning comes in. Through the highly intentional work of being wisely strategic, you can, step by step, move into a desired future. Through strategic implementation of your ideas, you can build a future.

Even the best strategic planning is no guarantee of reaching the desired future, for things happen that affect all our developmental planning. But this way is far more likely to actually bring about what you desire to see.

I am currently in the midst of a rather big writing project - the five volumes of The Exercises, a spiritual formation curriculum/process for leaders. A friend asked when I thought this project would be done. I found myself predicting out a few months. But I hesitated, knowing that the planning work needed is still not in place. So my prediction was "iffy."

When this planning is prayerful and dependent on God, seeking to hear His voice and follow His leading, willing to make adjustments as you discern they are needed, the preferred future begins to emerge.

If you haven't read Nehemiah lately, read the first six or seven chapters and see masterful strategic planning in action by this biblical leader. Then, a future that no one was predicting, actually emerged.

This is the work of leadership.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Ethos...

 

Culture Without Character

When organizational atmosphere is weightless

Ethos.

Leaders use that word a lot. Usually to refer to the atmosphere or the culture or the "character" of an organization. But in most cases, the word character really doesn't have anything moral or ethical about it. It is more the "flavor or feel or way" that is characteristic of an organization.

The word ethos has the same root as the word ETHIC.

Ethos is character of a culture and ethos is ethic.

Kind of interesting that today, for most of us ethos as culture is apart from and without ethos as ethic/character.

When an atmosphere/ethos is without ethic/ethos . . . well, we can use the same language that T.S. Eliot used - it becomes "hollow."

The ancient Hebrews would have said it becomes "weightless" or insubstantial or without substance.

The work of leadership is to create an organizational ethos that is weighty, substantial, ethical. Whether a family or a nation - this is the essential work of leadership. If we miss this, then any other bottom line that we pursue, is elusive.

And to build a culture that is weighty, substantial and ethical . . . a leader must have that within them, for leaders can only leak and imprint on the external world what is inside them.

Today is a good day to think about the "weightiness, substance, ethic" that is within you and then ... on how you are imprinting those around you from the substance of your own heart.

 

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Integrity

 

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely...
Proverbs 10:9 

The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
Proverbs 11:3

Several years ago, Yale law professor, Stephen Carter wrote an outstanding book, Integrity. Carter says integrity requires three things. I have put his ideas in bold and then added a brief interpretation beneath.
 

Discerning what is right and what is wrong.
Of course this assumes morality and it assumes one has a framework from which to make moral decisions. This one is increasingly difficult in a pluralistic and relativistic culture. Christians believe that wisdom for moral discernment must emerge from the truth of God revealed in the Old and New Testaments.

Acting on what you have discerned to be right, even if there is a cost involved.
It is not enough to simply know (discern) what is right and wrong. Integrity REQUIRES that one act according to what is discerned to be good, right and true.  This takes faith and courage, for there are often repercussions for doing what is righ.

Speaking clearly to others (explaining, interpreting) the meaning of your actions as in accordance with what you know to be true.
I find it interesting that integrity requires knowing, doing and speaking. How many times have we "Christians" assumed it is sufficient to  live the truth and not need to explain it! Yes there is. Why would you not want to? And certainly, to explain one's reaons and motives and desires for living according to what you believe to be true.

Knowing what is right
+ Doing what is right
+ Speaking what is right
____________________ 

Adds up to INTEGRITY!

Without it, a leader cannot be a good leader. As I listened to the primary debates over the weeks, I found myself wondering about "integrity."

In a world of contant internet information... integrity becomes more and more important. For you are instantly caught when you don't have it.
 

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Burnout, Dropout, Fizzle Out

 

The Stats Aren't Pretty!

And it was even worse then I thought.

 

A week or so ago, Ned Keene, Small Groups Director at LWCC have a presentation that involved some statistics on pastoral burnout and dropout.

I am always on the lookout for this kind of material.

Ned provided a few of the sites he had referenced. I am providing them here for you.

It is worth clicking them on and skimming down through them. They are eye opening. As we are taking a group of leaders through the Invitation to Leadership right now (Wednesday Exercises Group) and another group through the Jesus Way of Leadership (Sunday Morning Group) - these really hit me hard.

It makes me even more committed to the work of LCI, the spiritual transformation of leaders and the empowering of leaders for fruitful, faithful leaderhip that finishes well.

 

Ministry Burnout Statistics

Pastor Burnout Statistics

What's Going On With Pastors in North America

 

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Thomas Merton Prayer

 

I Have No Idea
Where I Am Going

But you do and that is enough . . .

Here is a prayer that I was going to use as the conclusion for the sermon, Keep In Step With the Spirit.
 

For me, it is profound in its understanding that God is always on the move, that I may not be moving with Him as closely as I need, but that if my desire for God and to be with God is pure and strong, that will keep me moving with God, no matter where He leads.

It is a journey through the Valleys of Baca (tears, sorrow, grief, loss, desolation) where by God's grace, his light, life and love leak out into the world around.

Take some time every day this week to pray this prayer. Then seek to live into it throughout your day.
 

 

************

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certainw here it will end.

Nor do I really know myself.

And the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything
apart from this desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me.

And you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Thomas Merton

************

 

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Psalm 19:14

 

For all of you who think, pray, listen, reflect, discern and seek to imprint the world around with the beauty, goodness and truth of Christ... this prayer from King David is worth memorizing and recalling throughout your day. It is Psalm 19:14 and I offer it here in the NIV and Eugene Peterson's, The Message versions.
 

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.  (NIV)

 

These are the words
in my mouth; 
these are what I
chew on and prayer.
Accept them
when I place them
on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-my-Altar. 
(The Message)
 

May we all find those persistant ways to remain connected with the wellspring our our life, our service, our communicating, our leading.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com 

A Great Way to End Your Week With Vital Optimism

 

I just does not get 

Any More Inspiring

than this . . .

Here is a video with an incredibly powerful story of one young man's courage and believe that with God's help he can do all things. I look at this young man (and his father) and I am inspired. I hope you will be as well.

Thanks to my friend Chris Lehr for sending me this video.

 

 

 

So what were you thinking you could not do today?

The Christian life is the virtually unimagineable life we have with God through Christ.

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.  
Philippians 4:13

Live with Vital Optimism to the glory of God.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Stories That Transform

 

 Read Any
Great Stories Lately?

The vital guides to moral wisdom
and life transformation.

 

How does a leader (or for that matter, anyone) build their character?

How do we grow in virtue?

How is a moral way of living fashioned?

There are many parts to that answer? Here I'll only offer one small part (but it is an important part).

Stories have a great power to illustrate and imprint us with the way of virtue. Which is one of the reason why the old stories were told. They weren't told to entertain their listeners. They weren't even taught to educate listeners (in the sense of only giving them ideas). They were told to form the lives of those who listened to them.

Think of Aesop's Fables for one thing. The same is true for most of the mythologies of the ancient world. They were laden with moral guidance and formation.

The great literature of the world are the stories that help us peer inside us, to make sense out of what is there, and to be guided toward becoming better people. Every time I read Lord of the Rings, I am motivated toward virtue.

This is why reading the classics of literature is so significant... and its loss to most of us so lamentable.  If you are looking for a place to get started, check out this site for one blogger's suggestions (as well as this beautiful image he uses on his site).

 

The best movies tell profound stories of morality, and do for a non-literaray culture, what the classics of literature once did. We watch them and we are guided and inspired to become better people.
 

• Amazing Grace
• Mr. Holland's Opus
• Shawshank Redemption
• Chariots of Fire
• Lord of the Rings
• The Mission
• Luther
• Remember the Titans
• Finding Forrester
• Of Gods and Men 

Now, finding and listening to these BEST stories is not all that is needed for the growth of virtue and the forming of a life of moral substance... but it is a start.

The work of God, the power of Scripture, the need for repentance, and much more is crucial for lasting change, still . . .

Perhaps this year is a time to read some of the great stories and watch (again) some of the great movies . . . and let the power of narrative inspire you on the journey of inner formation.
 

Check out:  Premier Magazine as a way to start connecting with great literature and the ides of great literature. (Also the source of the above image.)

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

 

 

Don't Shoot the Messenger

 

Don't Shoot the
Messenger! 

The messengers have
always believed this.

 

Have you ever been in this situation. You have to give someone some pretty bad news and you KNOW, they do not WANT to hear that bad news?  Ouch...

Or how about this . . .

You are the one getting the bad news (or contradictory argument, or the refutation, or the challenge) that you really don't want to hear, you don't want to believe and you are not at all happy about getting it?
 

"Hey don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger."
 

My son is in an AP English course. Since I enjoy having conversations with him about the things he is learning, I try to read some of the books he is reading. One of them is the fourth century B.C.  play by Sophocles - Antigone.

Well I never knew it, but this 24 centuries ANCIENT play is the source of our modern saying, "Don't shoot the messenger." Apparently human nature remains relatively unchanged through the long millenium march of time.

Antigone is about a king named  Creon (i.e. a very bad leader) who hates getting bad news and reacts with abusive power to those who bring him the bad news.

It is about leaders who think they are all-knowing and always right.

It is the mindset of President Nixon, who said in his Watergate defense,"When the President does it, that means it is not illegal."

It is about a refusal (even an inability) to listen to counsel / council and to benefit from the insights and wisdom of others.

It is about an unwillingness to adapt, to change, to turn (repent).

It is about vindictiveness against those who would tell you what you don't want to hear.

There is a bit of Creon / Nixon / (old Adam) in all of us when it comes to hearing what we don't want to hear, in having our precious assumptions called into question, and to receiving bad news (that is often partly of our own making).

As the Gospel of John tells us, the light had come into the world, but men did not want the light's exposure, instead preferring the darkness, because their deeds were evil.

That is our great need. To have the darkness illumined and exposed and then infused with the light of truth. 
 

• So how are you doing on this?
• What truths are you deliberately avoiding?
• Who do you invite to "speak truth in love" into your life?
• Has anyone said anything difficult and challenging to you lately?
• If not - "howcum?"

 

If these questions are irritating, "don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger." Of course you could always just stop reading this blog... which today is about as painful for a blogger as being shot.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com 

p.s. I wonder if Moses was thinking this when he came down from the mountain?

 

Truth Telling and Lives That Matter

 

The Truth That
Makes Us Free

We cannot be silent
on the things that matter. 

Here are two quotes that speak to me about "truth-telling."

The truth that makes men free
is for the most part the truth which men
prefer not to hear. 

Herbert Agar, A Time for Greatness

**********

Our lives begin to end
the day we become silent
about things that matter.  

Martin Luther King Jr.

 

When truth-telling dies, so do we.

And so does a family... a company... a university... a nation... and a culture.

The opposite is true as well.

When truth telling begins, new life emerges. It may be painful, but it is good.

It is not by accident that truth telling is high and lifted up in the Bible. Jesus constantly spoke the truth, even when those around did not want to hear it. He had to, for he was the Way, the Truth and the Life.

By faith and in hope, we are faithful to the Way and we live in the Life as we speak the truth (in love, of course, always in love).

What thoughts do you have about this?

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typeapd.com

 

A Child Shall Lead Them

 

A Child Shall Lead Them

A prayer that came at a great cost.

 

This past Sunday I used a prayer that resonated with a number of people. I had some requests for it.

The prayer was written on a piece of paper that was found in the clothing of a child who had been killed at the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. 

 

Artist James Brown (at this website).

 

I read the prayer in the devotional resource:

For All the Saints, Volume Three, Week Four of Epiphany.

Please note that the prayer was found in the clothing of the child, but it does not necessarily mean a child had written it.

 

O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will.

But do not remember all of the suffering they have inflicted upon us:

Instead remember the fruits we have borne because of this suffering --

Our fellowship,
our loyalty to one another,
our humility,
our courage,
our generosity,
the greatness of heart that has grown from this trouble. 

When our persecutors come to be judged by You,
  let all of thse fruits we have borne
  be their forgiveness. 

This seems to me, to be the heart of the gospel. May we all be so transformed by the power of the gospel of Christ and the mercy of God that we have the same forgiveness and mercy for those who hurt us.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Whistleblowers

 

Dangerous Secrets
& Vital Lies

And those who let the cat out of the bag.

 

 

I recently read an essay by James O'Toole, Speaking Truth in Power, in Transperancy: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor ... that was simply magnificent. 

By the way, I am going to start to read everything I can by this guy. I LOVED him. Check him out at his HOME PAGE.

It sparked considerable reflection on my part and will give rise to a number of posts in the next few weeks. One of his topics was on whistleblowing.

Whistleblowing is when an insider reveals damaging secrets an organization does not want revealed. Here are a few of my thoughts that summarize his argument. (Which he copiously illustrates with examples from politics, military and business.)

 

(1)  It is a fact that organizations do not always (or even often) serve the public good or the greater good. Nor that they believe their mission is to do that. For most organizations, the bottom line is to be profitable (at all costs).

(2)  It is a fact that organizations have dangerous secrets and that they vital lies so they can ignore what is wrong, hide what is unethical, ignore the facts and continue doing business as usual.

(3)  It is a fact that many of the most highly positioned leaders are not deeply ethical, moral leaders. The entire system of leadership training in our most presigious universities has been seriously lacking in fostering ethical leadership.

(4)  It is a fact that few organizations have good systems in place for rigorous debate, to challenge unquestioned assumptions, to argue against senior leaders . . . and for those who do, there are almost always consequences.

(5)  It is a fact that within every organization are individuals who are more moral than its senior leaders, whose conscience burns when it sees wrong-doing and who are stuck between a heavy rock and a crushing hard place.

(6)  But those individuals have an EXTREMELY HARD TIME calling attention to what they system wants to ignore and what has already been "spun" differently. In most cases, there are few mechanisms for "truth telling" in organizations, and even fewer for "speaking truth to those who lead."

WOW.... think about that one for a while.

With options for truth telling and open dialogue squashed and squelched, frustration builds as the problems grow severe and finally, "a few" whistleblowers can no longer be quiet. They go public with what they see and know.

 

**********
It is a fact that whistleblowing is almost always a HUGE RISK for the whistleblower.

First, because they are labeled by the organization as disloyal, angry, uninformed, vindictive, etc. Slander is one of the favorite tools from the regime. And it tends to work.

Second, because the public generally does not like whistleblowers. This one surprised me. But O'Toole has the stories and the research to back this up. He had a list of names and situations of whistleblowers who suffered for speaking up and telling the truth. (By the way, he also illustrates is nicely from history and literature, as well as contemporary times.)

Third, even when they are believed, they lose. They lose jobs, future opportunities, livelihood, friends and respect. 

(Found on the website listed in the next paragraph)

It is tough being a whistleblower. It requires a robust character and a strong moral system. It requires emotional intelligence. It requires a willingness to suffer.  (Be sure to check out this brief article on Myths of Whistleblowers) by a leadership professor who specializes in this topic.

*********
And how about this? It is often WOMEN who are those who are the whistleblowers. O'Toole has some fascinating thoughts about why women are willing to do this. He affirms our great need for the leadership strength of women. 
 

*********
How about you?

If you are a leader, are you creating mechanisms for truth telling on your team, in your department, in your organization?

If you are a leader, how do you receive bad news and counter-arguments against your personally held positions? What do you do when you are challenged and your positions are criticized?

If you are a follower, what truth are you not speaking, because it is too costly to tell the truth?

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Work and Leisure: It's Not What It Used To Be!

 

Work, Leisure and Rest

Let me stir the pot without telling you
how to move forward on this. 

 

We ALWAYS have to remember how culturally situated and biased we are in our interpretation. For today's post I want to talk briefly about leisure time. And soon (in a few days), look at the issue of retirement.

One of the ways we come to know how conditioned and biased we are by our cultural settings, is to go outside our culture.

There are a few ways to do this.

One is by going cross-cultural and visiting other cultures and discovering just how different other cultures are. Those differences can be jarring and jolting as they introduce some "disequilibrium" into our thinking.

A second way is by immersing oneself in a previous time in history (another way of going cross cultural) to see how other times experienced and thought about the issues we deal with today.

We must have a deep cultural and chronological HUMILITY and resist thinking that our particular culture is best and our particular time in history is advanced.

 

I recently came across some statistics about work time and leisure time that ROCKED my thinking. Here is a comparison of the "work hours" of the average American in the mid 1800s and the average North American living today.

150 years ago,
the working (man) spent 70 hours per week on the job
and lived about 40 years.
 

Today,
the working (peson) spends 40 hours per week on the job
and lives about 70+ years.
 

Depending on your retirement, you have 20-30 more years of non-working time on your hands. You have 30 more yeas of life than they did.

We have 30 more years of life than our peers did in 1850.
We have 30 less hours of work every week than they did. 

In other words you have an extra 1500 non-work hours of time per YEAR on your hands than did your peer 150 years ago. And you have a lot more years than they did.

This is a stunning development.

It provides perspective for those of us who think 50 hours of work is excessive. Really? By whose perspective?

In fact, our idea of "leisure" time is really a phenomenon of relatively late modernity and Western culture.

So is the "way" we think about vacation.

So is the way we complain about how busy we are and how much we work. I continue to read authors who complain about the active life, how busy they are, how much God has taught them to slow down... and ironically, one who I just read, is EXTRAORDINARILY busy and constantly on the run with seminars, conferences, and retreats... helping people slow down.

I believe the way we have created a dichotomy of work and rest, of activity and spirituality is fundamentally unhelpful and not the way forward. The way forward is to learn how all our activity is filled with the Presence, Work and Word of God in ways that are transformative and sustaining. 

I am struck that Jesus said his very sustenance, his nourishment, his food "is to do the will of Him who sent me" (see John 4:34-35). For Christ, activity was spirituality! It was not draining. 

Many of us would do very well to revisit the themes of work, leisure, rest, service and making the most of our time. (Remember, I said I am not mapping the way forward, just pointing out a general direction to head.)

If you have a few minutes today (and I hope you will) turn to Psalm 90 for a time of reflection, discernment and prayer about your years of vocational service as a steward of God.
 

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us-
yes, establish the work of our hands. 

Psalm 90:12, 17 

 

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

 

Since yesterday was a heavy, here is a fun thought for you...

 

 

Work-a-what?

Think about this one.

 

We all know what a workaholic is . . . someone who lives to work and whose work is there life. It is someone who has no meaning in life other than work.

Well, I just came across this delightfu idea, the . . . Workafrolic . . .
 

W o r k a f r o l i c !!!

Now, this could have different meanings, but I'd like to give it a good one. We have a playfulness about our work because we love what we do. When you love work, work is transformed. It is no longer drudgery or duty... it is joy and it becomes life.

When you are a workafrolic, then work becomes a kind of life-generating way for you.

You do live to work and in working you make a living and even more - you make a life. You make a life for yourself and for others.

So, today - be a workafrolic. Love what you do and what you do, do with love.

Go ahead, go to this site, order a mug, a coffee cup... and when you do, be full of joy and gratitude that today, you get to do what you have been created and called to do.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Truth, Error, Orthodoxy, Heresy

 

 

Heresy and Heretics!

Now that is a pretty unpleasant topic.

In doing some preparation for a session I am doing on False Teaching and on the need for careful theologizing that stays faithful to a generous orthodoxy I came across this insightful quote.

Although I concede that there are other tasks more important than the exposure of heresy, I warn: If there is no immune system to resist heresy, there will soon be nothing but the teeming infestation of heresy. I speak as one who was once a lover of heresy. 

Thomas Oden (patristics theologian/historian)

 

I'll resist saying much more here. Other than to suggest we tend to fall into extremes. There are some who are heresy hunters and they have a very narrow field of orthodoxy. It doesn't take much movement to be labeled devaint.
 

Then there are others who are so tolerant that almost any bad teaching is seen as okay.

I'll only ask a question . . .

What do you think?

Is Thomas Oden on to something?

Has our immune system to heresy disappeared and is there a teeming infestation/infection running through our systems?

If you have time, check out 2 Peter 2, which is the core text I am using. It is SUPER STRIKING the excessively strong language used by the Apostle, to talk about the dangers of false teaching.

And if you want to go deeper, I would suggest the always reliable and astute Alistair McGrath, one of the truly great historical theologians of our time and his book, Heresy: A History of Defending the Truth.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

 

 

Making God Smile

 

 

My friend is
like a force
of nature.

At least that is how George Bernard Shaw would describe him.

Here is one of my VERY favorite quotes from the playwright.

 

 

This is the true joy in life,
being used for a purpose
recognized by yourself as a mighty one;
being thoroughly worn out
before you are thrown on the scrap heap;
being a force of Nature
instead of a feverish selfish little clod
of ailments and grievances
complaining that the world
will not devote itself to making you happy.  
(G. B. Shaw)

 

All we have to do is change a few little words in this description and they describe how Jesus sees my friend. He is a force of God's grace. He is a walking illustration and representation of God's love. And when you are that - you are going to make a difference.

All day and every day, here is what my friend is doing. He interacts with lots of people. People in all levels of society. Highly placed people with apparently important titles beside their name. And then earthy people whose livelihood involves getting their hands real dirty as they provide vital services. 

And he loves everyone he meets. He wants to help, serve, encourage and bless every one he encounters.

He told me he has a little conversation going on with God all the time. By the way, some of the old spiritual 'masters' would say he is practicing the presence of God, finding God in all things, stuff like that which makes you a force for God in the world, but I digress…

He has a little conversation going on with God. With every action, with every choice, with every opportunity, my friend is constantly asking,
 

"Is God smiling or frowning with my choice?"

He wants to live in such a loving, grace filled, way of servant-leadership that his life brings a constant smile to the face of Jesus.

WOW…

He is loving God, serving people and seasoning this broken, hurting world with the invigorating flavors of grace and hope, joy and love. 

He can't stop talking about Jesus to others. But it is always natural, genuine, and appropriate. Nothing false or forced, awkward or uncomfortable. Not with my friend.

He is a vital optimist, a light shining in the darkness.

Generous and grateful.

Humble and wise.

And honestly… I am just scratching the surface.

God is smiling a lot these days as my friend moves through the world. And so are a lot of people around him. 

"Hey . . . Make God smile today" were some of his final words as we parted. 

Thanks. With you modeling the way for me, I'm a little more positioned and motivated to do just that.

 

Brian K. Rice 
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lci.typepad.com

 

 

 

 

Illusions and Light

 

Disillusionment
Enlightenment

They go hand in hand.

 

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened . . ."
Ephesians 1:18

The spiritual journey is about enlightenment, about seeing the light (of Christ), about moving from darkness to light, and about living in the light we have received.

Some people don't make this journey because they prefer the darkness. In John 3:19-20 Jesus tells us some people loved doing what is wrong/evil, so they rejected the light and chose the darknes... hoping to hide their evil.

The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. Through these words, John 1:9  describes Jesus as the light of God shining in the world.

In most cases, it is pretty easy to identify the darkness. I may prefer the darkness, but it isn't too hard to identify it.

But there are times when the problem is not as simple as light and darkness. At times we are living in the world of shadowy illusions. We are living with images, pretensions, confusions, misjudgments, projections, subterfuges, distortions . . . and we don't really understand this is our condition.

I think this is a more perilous spiritual condition, for it takes times, it requires outside guidance and perspective, and some strong doses of courage for the Spirit of God to do His work of

- - - "dis" illusioning - - -

That is, of revealing the illusions
and removing the illusions.
 

I wish I could simply ask you to think about the illusions that are in your life. Well, I can ask it. It is just that it is terribly hard to answer it. But ask and answer it we must!

Being disillusioned is painful. It may be gradual or it may be sudden... but suddenly the scales fall off of the eyes, the illusion is understood, and there is clarity about the truth.

The spiritual counsel and guidance from some trusted friends and a wise mentor are part of the process of becoming "disillusioned."

I think some of the work of leadership is to be a "disillusioning" leader who brings clarity and perspective to the tenuous. Much prayer. Much thinking. Much hard work of discerning. All this and more is needed to pierce the illusions.

May you have such friends in your life...
May you experience the grace of discernment and of disillusionment in the days ahead.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com 

 

The Desert Wisdom When It Comes to Praying

 

Pray Without Ceasing

The ancients guide us with wisdom and love
in to the mysteries of prayer
 

I am spending some time reading the Desert Fathers and Mothers these days.

Sometimes they lived in community (always seperated by gender). Other times they lived in isolation (in caves, in huts they made, and even out in the open).

They are rich in lessons on silence and solitude, love of God and others, spiritual direction, the deadly sins (anger and pride as among the worst), the virtue of humility, and of course prayer.

What is most striking is the incredible diversity of prayer that is found in their lives and their writings. They believed God interacts in different ways according to the makeup and needs of each person. And that inevitably means a wonderful variety of prayer. 

As you read their guidance about prayer, at times, it is seems contradictory… until you remember that they are only illustrating ways of prayer and not mandating any norm for prayer.

Here are the three "rules from the desert."

ONE:
Pray. It is the most vital dynamic of life with God.

TWO:
Pray in the way that connects you with God. And the diversity of prayer is beautiful.

THREE:
Respect the differences in prayer, value each way, do not categorize some as better and others as lesser (a problem some of the later mystics fall in to).

 
 Visit this site for history and photos

Most of us need to learn how to pray. I think most leaders strugle with prayer and it is one of our great inadequacies as leaders.

To learn how to pray, you may have to read a good book or two to learn about prayer. A note of caution - there are some very good books on prayer, and there are some "bad ones" as well. Let me just note one of the very good ones, for those who need a start. 

I have found that Richard Foster's book on Prayer is among the best introductions to this wonderful diversity. Reading a chapter a week and then daily practicing (experimenting if you will) with that form of prayer would be of great benefit for learning to pray.

Another help is to use a prayer book. This is not a book that teaches you to pray. This is a book of prayers that models the way. I use prayer books regularly and they provide language, themes, a vision of God and ways of praying that are outside my typical thoughts. I use a different prayer book every year. I don't use it every day, but on many days I do.

 

Another help in learning to pray is to work with a spiritual mentor. One of the great offerings of spiritual mentors was their ability to teach others how to pray. In this, they imitate Jesus, the Great Master, who prayed so wonderfully, that his disciples simply asked Him, "Teach us to pray." 

In one sense, the prayer books of the church and the books on prayer, are having a distance mentor who guides us through the printed page. 

But whatever you do and in all things . . .

May Jesus be your Teacher of Prayer,
and  may your life of prayer flower in the season ahead.

 

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

Love at Work

 

 

The Way of Love

One possible rendition of
1 Corinthians 13:4-6 in the Workplace

 

Is it naive to imagine that loving leadership would make the world a betterplace?

Is it foolish to believe that more love in the workplace will make those places resonant and productive?

Is it a waste of my time and a death knell to believe that love can really make a difference in this hard, harsh world?

Apparently the Apostle Paul thought love will rock the world. And without love, no matter what else you have... success, impressive resume, nice corner office, fancy title, desired benefits... they really don't matter. You can find this beautiful poster (here, check it out). Maybe having something like this framed in your place of work will be a good reminder.

Maybe we each need to think about what it means for us to practice Love in the Marketplace of life. Here is my offering.

 

Love is patient.
I give people the time and space that I would like to have when I am stressed, tired, busy and beind. 

 

Love is kind.
Lots of little touches, thoughts, considerations and blessings, especially to those who are in need, those who are overlooked, those who are considered the least in the workplace. No one will fear rudeness or rashness from me.

 

Love does not envy or dishonor others.
Instead of competing with others or being threatened by them, I value them and know I need them. It is not a zero sum world. I value my peers and colleagues. I guard their dignity. I lift them up.

 

Love does not boast, love isn't proud and love isn't self-seeking.
It is not about me, it is not about me being noticed or winning or beating out the other. The way of gratitude and humility are the best antidotes to the way of pride.

 

Love is not easily angered and it does not keep a record of wrongs.
I avoid arguments, no-win situations, creating conflict where it is not needed or productive. I don't hold grudges. People don't have to worry about my temper or over-reaction. I am calm and gentle.  

 

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth.
Virtue, all of it and all the time is a joy for me. Character and morality are valued. I avoid even the appearance of evil. I am willing to take a stand against what is wrong, even it it costs me something. I speak the truth in love. I keep the truthful ways in love.  And I am willing, as neeed, to practice "tough love from a tender heart."

 

Love never fails.
And I go the distance. I don't just do this one day, or one week, or for a New Year's Resolution.  This is a way of being and living in the world of work. With my friends and colleagues. With my customers and vendors.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com 

Be sure to re-read this book sometime soon. Love is how we become real and love is how we help others become real . . .

You may also want to read 1 John and reflect and pray about love . . .