The Leadership of Hope

How do you define leadership? The answer changes depending on who you ask. Some define leadership as influence. Possessing the ability to positively influence others through trust earned over time.  Others see the mark of a leader in the ability to inspire a team to work together, acknowledging and leveraging the unique strengths of each member. Leadership is not position according to Maxwell.  History lifts up those who demonstrated real courage to stay true to his or her beliefs in the face of darkness.  George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King are all examples of great leaders who lived and died for what they believed.

And what about you and me?  The Gospel brims with every day people who answered God’s call to lead others through great tribulation.  Each was tasked with carrying out the seemingly impossible assignment.  Alone and afraid, they carried out what God asked of them. Think of Ester.  A young Jewish woman hand picked by God to save His people from certain death. Though it meant putting her own life at tremendous risk, she saves the Jewish people by stopping the King’s edict to slaughter them.  God instructed Moses to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt.  Moses lacked confidence to even utter a word before Pharaoh. He was a sheep herder.  Yet, he obeyed trusting that God would make His footprints visible to guide his difficult walk. Remember Joshua.

Across every call, God’s chosen asked how such a task could be done in the face of adversity.  They were all every day people like you and me.  God’s answer was always the same.  Not to fear because He would be with them – always.  Only by going through the troubled waters would they witness God’s glory and the fulfillment of His purpose.  They were to take nothing on the journey. His grace alone was sufficient.

What is true perhaps, across all of these great leaders is what they made visible through the pain and hardship.

Hope. They gave hope to people in despair.  With God’s word etched in their heart, they became like a lamp of light leading the way out of hardship.

That is that we are called to do as leaders.  To inspire hope and reflect God’s light in every circumstance.  To  me, a leader is one who inspires hope in others to keep climbing toward Christs in faith.

Believing with all our hearts …that if He leads us to it, He will lead us through it.