Leadership with Purpose: Walking Tall
Ever feel like this…
Or this…
But you have to show the world this…
Even though you’re up against this?
Well, that’s been my life for the last three months! And it’s not ending any time soon. I’ve taken a brave next step in my career, and moving up an oil slicked hill on roller skates can truly characterize my journey.
I know how astronomical the odds are stacked against me. I know how many have gone before me and have been unsuccessful at the same work I’m endeavoring. I know how some have written off my tenure as another eventual failure. I can see it in some eyes when people talk to me. The faintest curl of the lips, a knowing smirk, glides ever so quickly across some mouths. And I notice some fear, shot slightly with the haste of unbridled truth then reeled back in, a moment of self-composure (obviously for my benefit). I get the phone calls: “Are you really sure this is what you want to do?” The firm tugs on the arm for a private discussion with a seeming confidant: “You could do any number of things. This does’t have to be it.” The whispers over the shoulder while leaning in for a hug: “You can still back out, you know?”
Yes, I do know, and I also know that when God moves in your life, giving you clarity about your assignment, you have to walk tall, even when all around you can understand, and even sanction, early exit.
Here’s my truth:
I know what it is that God wants me to do! I know what He expects me to bring! I know that if it were easy, He would not have given me the blessings, gifts, and stubbornness to stand against the storm and keep swinging!
So even though I have moments of fear, flashes of indecision, lapses in confidence, the totality of my experience will not equate to failure because the God I serve would not have moved me here to leave me all alone.
So back off, and let me do what God has put me here to do.
Memos from the Middle 