Leadership Thought: Yesterday I Cheated on What I Liked, Loved and Learned.

Dear Friends,

In our Men’s Spiritual leadership Class, we have a section where we discuss three questions about the chapter we were assigned: “what did you like,” “what did you learn,” and “what did you love?”

We are studying the classic leadership book, Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders, and the chapter study for yesterday’s class was “The Leader and Time.” As I studied the chapter,  I found myself in a bind. There was no way I could limit myself to one answer for each of the questions. There were just too many possibilities to choose from. So, what do you do when this happens? You throw the assignment out the window, and you do what I did a lot of in high school when I didn’t know how to answer the questions. You ignore your instructions, and you write as much as you can about information that has nothing to do with the questions in hopes that the teacher will at least  be impressed with the extraneous information that you did know.

In any event, rather than completing the assignment as directed, I changed the rules, and since I am one of the teachers of the class, I thought I might get away with it. However, I never found out whether my classmates would approve of my tactical change, as yesterday’s snow fall canceled our evening class until next week.

So here are some of my answers to what I “liked,” “learned.” and “loved” all lumped together in one big pile. I hope you will find some of the following insights from our leadership “friend” to be helpful as you endeavor to faithfully manage your time as the Lord's faithful steward.

“The way we employ our surplus hours, after provision has been made for work, meals, and sleep, will determine if we develop into mediocre or powerful people. Leisure is a glorious opportunity and a subtle danger. A discretionary hour can get wisely invested or foolishly wasted. Each moment of the day is a gift from God that deserves care, for by any measure, our time is short, and the work is great” (p. 111).

“William James said ‘the best use of one's life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.’ Life's value is not its duration, but its donation-not how long we live but how fully and how well” (p. 112).

“We are not responsible for our endowments or natural, abilities, but we are responsible for the strategic use of our time....Time lost can never be retrieved. Time cannot be hoarded, only spent well...(p. 113).

“The leader must carefully select priorities. He or she must thoughtfully weigh the value of different opportunities and responsibilities. The leader cannot spend time on secondary matters while essential obligations scream for attention. A day needs careful planning” (p. 113).

“On conscious of time, Jesus spent his time doing things that mattered. No time was wasted on things not vital. The strength of moral character is conserved by refusing the unimportant... How interesting that the gospel accounts contain no hint of any interruption ever disturbing the serenity of the Son of God.  Few things in life are more likely to produce tension in a busy life than unexpected interruptions” (p.115).

“The pressure a spiritual leader feels comes from assuming tasks that God has not assigned; for such tasks the leader cannot expect God to supply the extra strength required” (p.116).

“Procrastination, the thief of time, is one of the devils most potent weapons for defrauding us of eternal heritage. The habit of ‘putting off’ is fatal to spiritual leadership. Its power resides in our natural reluctance to come to grips with important decisions. Most decisions are more difficult a day later, and you also lose an advantage by such delay.  ‘Do it now’ is a motto that has led many people to worldly success, and it is equally relevant in spiritual matters” (p. 118).

I hope that some of these thoughts will whet your appetite to purchase a copy of this leadership classic. If not, at least maybe you can find a few quotes to tape to your bathroom mirror.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom