Years ago as a youth leader at my church, I would find myself becoming frustrated with the team I was working with, and the silly choices of those I was trying to lead.
It wasn’t until years later, after moving on from that particular role, that I realised that I had been missing the point entirely!
I’m the kind of person who gets focussed on getting a thing done, and woe to anyone who gets in my way. That was how I approached leading. Everything was a task, and I would do whatever I needed to do to complete it to the highest standard. The problem was that in the process of running youth events, difficulties would arise: more often than not, there would be a human face delivering the news. I discovered an excellence in acting like a steam roller: rolling over the top of anyone trying to slow me down, with no regard to what that might do to their spirit. Not surprisingly, that steam roller impression had a detrimental impact on our ability to retain our young people…

It has taken years for me to understand this about myself. It is an even slower process breaking the habit and teaching myself that delays might not be unmitigated disasters after all.
A big part of changing this particular habit is learning the truth that my value as a human being is not a product of how successfully I overcome obstacles to getting a job done; but in how I respond to the people I meet along the way.

Jesus’ ministry expressed this at its core. Not once do we see Him prioritise a task over a person. Not once did the work diminish the value of those around Him.

Easy to say. Here’s to learning to do.