Leadership Thought: Clubhouse Rules We Should Never Forget

Dear Friends,

Pride can lead to embarrassing ends. A recently promoted colonel had entered his new office for the first time. Filled with a new sense of self-importance, he was admiring his new desk and sofa when a lowly corporeal stuck his head through the door.

"Wait just a minute corporal. I have a very important person on the other end of the line." 

The corporal stood in the doorway and listened to the conversation. "Yes, general, I do know the president of the United States. He and I are good friends, and I can call him up at any time. As soon as we hang up, I will give him a call, and I'll make sure your request is taken care of right away. Any other members of the cabinet you need to speak with? If so, just let me know."

The proud and pompous Colonel put down his phone, and said to the corporal, "Now son, what can I do for you?"  

The corporal responded, "Nothing Sir. I just stopped by to hook up your new phone."

Pride can lead to humiliating circumstances, can't it? Pride, someone remarked is the disease that makes everyone sick except the one who has it. 

I had a friend of mine who was the pastor of a large Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati OH. One Sunday morning as he was entering the pulpit, he found himself thinking to himself, "If only I had a few more minutes to prepare this sermon, it would be dynamite."  As quick as he had thought those words, he heard the Holy Spirit speak to his heart, silently but clearly and convincingly, "Jerry, don't ever forget who is the dynamite." 

Often times we need to be reminded that God is the source of our power, and whatever we might need to be successful comes, not from us, but from Him and Him alone. 

"Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit goes before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud" (Proverbs 16:18-19). 

Let us never forget that God "Saves the humble but brings low those whose eyes are haughty" (Psalm 18:27).

Today's proud peacock is tomorrow's feather duster!

Let me close with one of the best descriptions of humility I've ever heard. It seems that some children were working long and hard in building their little cardboard shack. It was to be a special spot, a clubhouse, where they could meet together, play and have fun with one another. Since a clubhouse should have some rules, they came up with three: "Nobody act big. Nobody act small. Everyone act medium."

Good rules for a playhouse and good rules for those of us who might think more of ourselves than we ought to think.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom