THANKFUL LEADERS - by Gill Newham Missionary to Mongolia
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise,” Psalm 100 tells us.
In my Bible that Psalm is entitled “A Psalm for giving thanks.” Thankfulness is a biblical theme which appears over and over again. And yet, strangely, for those involved in leadership it’s a heart attitude that, at times, we can be in danger of losing.
Leaders regularly face difficult situations. We see people’s failings and foibles; we hear their complaints and prejudices. We bear the brunt of their criticisms and, left unguarded, our hearts can become weary and disappointed. Disappointment festers and, if we are not careful, leads to a critical spirit and a judgemental attitude and before you know it everything in our world has become grey and we’ve stopped being thankful.
Having a heart that is thankful to God is part of what keeps good leadership moving forward. It focuses our eyes on the Lord and keeps us remembering His blessings.
However, it’s not the only character trait that leaders need. We also need godly wisdom and courage. In difficult situations when the way is unclear and complex, leaders need wisdom to discern the best way forward. Thankfully, the book of James reminds us that God freely gives wisdom to all who ask.
Courage sustains leaders, giving them the strength to step out into the unknown and use the wisdom God has given with quiet confidence. Consistently facing tough situation grows courage and helps leaders walk the tricky paths.
As I get older I also realise that discipline is a part of the foundation of good leadership. Perhaps the word discipline sounds old-fashioned but ‘self-control’ is listed among fruit of the spirit and as such enables us to lead disciplined lives. Discipline helps us discern God’s call on our lives and the lives of those around us, and it also helps us as we seek to grow others in their leadership abilities. But above all godly discipline, sustains us in our spiritual lives and in our very relationship with God Himself.
And in knowing God we get to know ourselves. Reflecting on God’s presence with us, we gain a better understanding of ourselves. We see our strengths and limitations, our struggles and our stubbornness, as well our responds to others, and we realise that we need to become more flexible. Hopefully, such self-understanding enables us to deepen our roots in God and allow Him to shape us to be more like Christ.
At times being a leader can feel scary; especially when we give those we’ve invested our lives in the opportunity to lead their own ministries and then they lead in a different way to us. Of ourselves we want to place a controlling hand on such people and yet we have to allow them to grow and function or else we’ll never be able to grow and embrace change.
“Thank you Lord for the daily challenge of leading others,” we pray. As leaders, keeping a heart that is grateful — disciplined in daily thankfulness — takes us beyond the mundane and allows us to see God working in our lives and the lives of those around us.