…my temporary assignment.

“ One of the most fundamental statements of Christian faith is this: your  life is not about you. This is not your project. Rather, you are part of  God’s great design. To believe this in your bones and to act  accordingly is to have faith. When we  operate out of this transformed vision, amazing things can happen, for  we have surrendered to “a power already at work in us that can do  infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.”   

Bishop Robert Barron

This captures the very essence of the struggles one encounters on a daily basis.  

Heck, let’s be honest, minute by minute.

It is one thing to think it’s not about you.  To convince yourself to get your heart and mind right.  Commit to expressing that in the  words you choose, no matter the outlet, setting or audience.  Fully embracing a discipline to dedicate your personal forces to that  mission.  Aspiring to live as if it is not about you. 

But, it is another thing altogether to do it.  Let go, step aside and make it not about you. 

‘Cause when that starts to happen?  

Whammo. 

Colleagues begin to succeed.  Winning customers, landing projects and earning accolades for projects  that were once your bread and butter.  Those are no longer yours alone.  Roles have shifted.  And it  is now your time  to support their efforts,  to build them and enhance their career.

Then, true team dynamics can begin to take front and center.  The needs for growth via group goals may call you to become a utility man.  Your experience and abilities now needed to fill in the gaps.  To address the pressing needs that present themselves in  shades of gray.  So rather than assuming  the lead in a role you know like the back of your hand, you step back, and let others step up.

Finally  then, the talents of others can begin to find their way to the surface,  emerge and be expressed. Potential, once  cloaked in doubt and fear , can now be revealed by them and finally “seen” by you.  

Those wobbly, first baby steps of initiative can be taken.  And as their momentum grows, so too will their confidence.   The veil of trepidation is removed and things come into focus for all.  Now, surrounded by a greatness that was already present in all – all can ascend.  As one. 

These and many other similar moments are where the rubber meets the road in life.  But you cannot just wish them to be.  Works of this magnitude take  courage, conviction and commitment. You must convert your  thoughts and words into the deeds and intentions for His project.  

Begin by slaying personal pride.  Squashing ego. Eliminating envy.

And rubbing dirt on the scrapes, bruises and boo boos.

Release your grip and allow His work to proceed in ways that need not be comprehended now but simply accepted with a sincere attitude of gratitude.  

After all, it’s His grand scheme of things. 

Not yours.

You can think it.  And you can say it. But until you  trust and  operate out of this “transformed vision”,  these amazing things cannot happen.  And you can never get to where He wants you to be.  

Where your true talents are fully expressed. 

Potential, no longer cloaked in doubt and fear, can finally be revealed.   

So take those wobbly baby steps. 

Build some momentum and grow confidence by embracing this direction.  Lose the veil of trepidation and allow His vision to come into focus for you.  Lean into His  already present greatness so you might ascend.  Find true joy.  Meaning.  

And belonging.

But until then, it’s all just wishing. 

“Gratitude is a “belief and conviction that serves as a constant reminder of what you have been given, where you came from and whose shoulders you are standing on now. “

It is more than a mere “thank you” and far deeper than simple appreciation.

Gratitude is the humble acknowledgement of the extraordinary role that others have played in getting you to this point in your life.  A modest recognition of how their influence first got you started.  Then pushed you to keep going.  And continued to encourage you achieve whatever it was you desired.

When it comes right down to it, gratitude is a way of being. Thinking, speaking and acting in such a way as to honor how others intentionally gave you all they had to give, so you could achieve, excel and succeed. 

Gratis.  

Gratitude is about developing a mindset that is rooted in humility.  And coming to possess an “attitude of gratitude”.

So if you will, please indulge me for a moment. Take a look back, reflect and think of all you have been freely “given”, gifted or entrusted with by others throughout your life. Not so much in terms of things.  But rather the time. Talent. Wisdom. Support.  And love.  

Now, this exercise can be a staggering undertaking if you attempt an honest assessment of such a big picture.  So let’s just focus on one small aspect of our life. 

Something we share in common.

To be honest, where we are today isn’t so much just because of anything one of us did on our own.  Rather, it all pretty much came down to what others thought of us.  Saw within us.    Believed in each of us. Entrusted to us.

And yes, eventually,  expected every single one of us to do. 

Because those individuals had so much faith in each one of us, our transformation became possible.  They pushed each of us in precisely the right manner.  Challenged us to embrace the work, to make the commitment, aim our aspirations higher and achieve at a higher level than we ever imagined.  

They loved us enough to carry us on their shoulders.  

A vantage point that reveals a bigger picture.  To help insure that our present might match what they envisioned what our future would someday be.  Even now, their all encompassing and enduring support remains.  Taking us even farther and higher than ever dreamed. 

There is no way to repay their generosity.  To compensate them for what they gave us in terms of their time, their effort, their support and unyielding faith.  In a certain sense, we will forever be indebted to them.  And yet, this was never a transaction. 

It was always a “quid pro quo.” Simply a gift.  Freely given without condition.  Strings or attachments.   

So it is incumbent on each of us to acknowledge the extraordinary role that others have played in getting each of us to this point in our lives.  Recognize how their influence got us started.  How they pushed us  to keep going.  And continue to encourage all of us to achieve whatever it was we desired.

Embrace an attitude of gratitude.  

Clear some room on your shoulders.  

And help someone to share the view you were once given.  

Gratis.

When vision is bold, there is bound to be discomfort. 

Leadership that chooses to work towards a desired reality far beyond the confines of the known takes a great deal of courage. And to press beyond existing limits is always a difficult task. Not for the faint of heart. 

It is a choice that involves and produces risk. There will be fits, starts and periods of inertia. But without commitment, action with full intention and the fortitude to leave safe harbor, there are no avenues for growth. 

When venturing out into the great unknown is too daunting, there is scant opportunity for improvement. Without embracing risk, average will have to be the accepted standard of achievement. And only wishful thinking can produce any notion of excellence. 

True, leaving the comfort of the known creates discomfort. 

It does command committed effort. Demands personal accountability. Beckons courage and character. Assignments coveted by those that choose to be bold. 

Embraced only by leadership truly visionary.

To a great extent, leadership is centered on vision. 

An ability to imagine, articulate and then transmit an image so powerful, that the “big picture” once only dreamed, eventually gets painted. Becoming reality. 

“Big pictures” that are painted in such a way that everyone can readily “see” the desired reality. A vision conveyed in such a compelling manner that others will want to urgently, and fully, invest themselves in it. 

Not solely in commitment. But by allocating their own precious, personal resources to make that image their reality as well. Becoming as one with that vision. 

Effective and compelling leadership will make others “see” themselves within that work of art as an integral and meaningful part of a much larger work in progress. Conveying the opportunity to add their own strokes, whether broad or fine, enhancing the overall significance of the masterpiece. 

Leadership that can first “see” and then articulate the big picture casts a deep and lasting impression. 

Leadership of this stature will change perceptions, remove obstacles and overcome inertia. 

Leadership of this magnitude creates opportunity, a mode of meaningful and lasting contribution, fair return on personal investment and a chance for all to help paint that big picture. 

It is all powerful. 

Now isn’t that what leading with vision is all about?

“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.”

― Steve Maraboli

A profound observation if there ever was one.  

In a sense, the daily test we take is two fold.  

The one we make out of our own volition that becomes intermeshed with the one presented from above.  How we respond to ours, His  or hopefully – both – is what lays the foundation for the next day and all those that follow. 

Choice is key. 

The test solicits a response – via choice – which then produces an outcome. One that might be understood at the moment.  Or one that requires other similar choices and outcomes that merge to create something much, much larger.  

We can enjoin this daily challenge to help overcome our failings, making oneself stronger. Even as we discern and learn to accept the true meaning of the other, making oneself that much more resilient. Not meant to be misunderstood and taken as complex.  Just that these tests require patience, openness and faith. 

The combined strength and resilience that follows will lighten the daily load.   Making the day to day less daunting and what is yet to come a bit less formidable.  For in time we can handle more. Just have to grow into it and learn to embrace it.  

Each challenge that we seek to overcome – when guided by  this sense of enthusiasm and faith – works to reduce the perceived mass of the load.  An opportunity to enhance the strength and resilience that is born of each and every test. And is ultimately always carried forward.

Thereby not just making one’s life “easier”. 

But rather, a life one can choose to fully embrace.