Jun 062012
 

There are hundreds, probably thousands, of good books on leadership. This post doesn’t presume to improve on those, but simply to share a dream.

While investing a week at the Optimum Health Institute recently, (eating only raw food in proper combinations, drinking at least half my body weight in ounces of water and other fluids, juicing/drinking wheatgrass twice a day, colon cleansing, and other spiritual, mental/emotional and physical transformation practices), I remembered the following dream one morning.

A square-jawed, crew-cut, battle-scarred, muscular, seasoned old sargeant is in the face of a skinny, wide-eyed, fresh-out-of-the-box young officer barking gruffly, “You wanna be a great leader, Andy?!” (One of the founders of the church camp I attended as a child affectionately called me Andy as short for Anderson, but I never liked it because it was a boy’s name.)

The old Sarge continues without waiting for an answer, “it’s more than encouragement, character, and strength…ya gotta open doors for people!”

Then he swings open the metal gates and ushers herds of civilians through, barking, “Keep it movin! Keep it tight! Let’s go people, keep movin!”

I’ve thought about that scene alot since then. It makes so much sense. If a door that I want to enter is closed to me, and someone opens it and steps through ahead of me, I will follow them through, not necessarily because of their great leadership skills, but because they are making a way for me to go somewhere I want to go but haven’t been able to on my own for whatever reasons.

Jesus is our pathmaker to salvation and eternity. He has stepped through the open tomb door and invites us to follow.

To whatever degree I’m entrusted with leadership from this point forward, as a thinking Christian woman, I have purposed to remember that it’s mostly about opening doors for people, with a servant’s heart.

© 2012 Melody K. Anderson
All Rights Reserved

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  2 Responses to “Leading through open doors”

  1. Perfect story. So true and great reminder. By the way welcome back from your retreat! Melody 2.0!

  2. Thank you Tracy. 2.0. Cute. It really does feel that way too. So many good changes. Been all raw for 3 weeks this Sunday, and internal changes to support that and other adventures.

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