How does one move from overwhelmed to overjoyed?
This is a part of the human experience, especially as leaders.
How do we move through these challenges that we face with that sense, sometimes even daily, of being overwhelmed?
And then, how do we come to a place of joy consistently?
I want to identify the specific struggles leaders face and for you to be inspired again by the example we have in Christ.
I want you to learn to use stress and anxiety as a leadership gift, not just a leadership problem.
I want you to implement some specific skills and disciplines and plan or know how to plan for growth, recovery, and strategic direction in your organization.
The leadership struggle.
I often point to three things that I think define the struggles that we face as leaders in the best of times and in the worst of times.
Performance-based mentality.
We are expected to perform, get results, achieve specific things, and be productive. If we’re not careful, the value that we hold in our hearts, the way we perceive ourselves, can get very tied to that. This mentality does not bear good fruit.
The tension between serving versus feeling selfish.
We are so oriented towards serving others in the example of Christ that we sometimes fail to invest wisely in our time in solidarity, ourselves, and our relationship with family, friends, or our Lord because we feel like that’s somehow selfish.
More is always expected for less.
Leaders create value, energy, and clarity.
Pressure is always present.
It feels like more is being expected of us for sometimes less. Less time, less energy.
Take heart. Look to Him.
Look at Christ’s suffering and the uniqueness of how He spent His time and energy.
Look closely to capture some glimpses of this.
I want to share a few that are important to me.
If we consider the pressure He was under, He uses the word distressed in Luke 12:50. He says, “I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed…”
The word there is synecho in Greek, “…I am until it’s accomplished.” Synecho is a word for pressure. For pressing. It’s the word to describe how cattle or sheep are pressed in on each other as they are funneled into a very tight gate, even an individual gate where they were held so that they could be helped with an injury or whatever. Synecho. It’s that pressure. That pressing.
He’s distressed. He’s pressured constantly. He said how synecho I am.
Another well-known example is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus began to be grieved and distressed. He tells his disciples, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death.” To the point of wanting just to die. “Remain here and keep watch with me.”
He’s in agony, praying fervently. His sweat becomes like drops of blood falling upon the ground.
Our savior is a leader who knows what it’s like to feel tremendous pressure to the point of wanting it to be done. But we often miss the examples of how He lived through that.
Luke, chapter five, says He would often…not just this one time—slip away to the wilderness and pray.
It says that while it was morning and still dark, He left the house and went to a secluded place.
I love the picture of Him in the stern of the boat during the storm. He’s asleep on the cushion. We remember that He calms the waters, but the moments before, He’s sleeping while his men actively move this boat through the water. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.”
Why? Because so many people were coming and going, they didn’t have enough time to eat.
He perceived that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, but when they were rallying around Him, enthralled, He just withdrew. Withdrew, again, it says, to the mountain, by Himself, alone.
And then, lastly, we can see the resolve He often chose to have.
In Isaiah, it paints a picture of Him. He offered his back to those who beat Him. His cheeks to those who pulled out His beard. He did not hide His face from mocking and spitting.
Yet He led through the pressure.
“Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like flint.” There’s this resolve in his countenance. “I know I will not be put to shame.”
I love how Hebrews teaches us about discipline.
It is tough for me and most Americans to think about it this way.
We view discipline as punishment rather than discipline because we are being shaped and strengthened.
We discipline our bodies.
We discipline our muscles.
We discipline our minds.
God is doing that with us as well, through the difficult things.
God is treating you as His children. “For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined… and everyone undergoes discipline… then you are not legitimate. Not true sons and daughters at all.”
God is using these things to shape us and change us.
Our earthly fathers disciplined us for a while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good.
He disciplines us perfectly.
He’s changing, shaping, sharpening, strengthening. Refining.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time.
It could be more pleasant to work out.
It’s never pleasant to have to face pain that changes you. It’s painful.
Pain is painful.
But later, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those trained by it. So, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet so the lame may not be disabled but heal.
Why do we strengthen our arms and our knees? Why do we make level paths for our feet?
So that we can be with and help others.
Those are some Scriptures that I frequently reflect on to ground myself in the example of our Savior when I’m thinking about the challenges of being a leader.
What are some examples you look to and lean on? Since iron sharpens iron, I want to open the floor for us to hone one another’s grounding through God’s Word. (link to Superphone)
Keep moving forward. Report back.