Uncomfortable

"Sad is the day for any man when he becomes absolutely satisfied with the life he is living, the thoughts he is thinking and the deeds that he is doing; when there ceases to be forever beating at the doors of his soul a desire to do something larger which he seeks and knows he was meant and intended to do."
----Philips Brooks (the minister who spoke at Abraham Lincoln's funeral)

I am a big believer in leadership. In fact, I buy into John Maxwell's mantra that "EVERYTHING rises and falls on leadership". The greatest lessons history teaches us is chalked full of leaders making great choices and succeeding and poor choices and suffering defeat. The issue that every leader faces is that at some point in their tenure as a leader is that they will do both.

However, I am not sold that everything rises and falls on the decisions of leaders. I think Mr. Brooks here has revealed a key into the lock of every leader. True leaders realize that there is always "something more" out there to pursue. They never arrive. The moment a leader stops looking for what is next is the moment they stop leading. I was having a conversation with a friend today where I found myself saying, "The challenge with leading is that you can't be so far ahead that your vision is out of the realm of possibilities for the people you are leading, but not so close to the crowd that it's confusing about who is leading who." (I am sure I was just repeating something I read from someone else)

Comfort has to play a factor here. When we stop asking ourselves the tough questions about what is next, what is out there, what is making my heart beat faster in excitement? We have stopped pursuing life and leadership.

I am in a season of life where everything we do is an adventure, where we can succeed beautifully or fail horribly. This is where these words have come in to play in some incredible ways. I believe that the enemy of GREAT may just be GOOD. I also believe that the enemy in my story has no problem allowing me to settle on good if it distracts me from the great that God is offering me.

There is a beating in all of our hearts of what lies out there that is begging us to pursue it. The challenge is that it is marked full of uncertainty and danger, uncomfortableness, and (if it is worth the pursuit) will require more out of you than you knew possible. But on the flip side, it will take you to higher heights than you could imagine, change the lives of those you lead and will give you a better opportunity to add value to this world you live in.

So, get uncomfortable and listen to your heart.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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