Being a Leader of Compassion

" The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. " James 5:11

Every woman is a leader. From the home, to the workplace, to the church and community. All women are the center of influence for someone.

Leadership in any form is tricky. There are things to tend to, issues to resolve ( even if it's just a sibling fight..) and much to get done. Leadership is all about the details, isn't it?

Leaders are in the front of the line with a trail following behind. Sometimes that trail is co-workers, often it's volunteer team members, and in the home it's usually kids, animals and the like. Whether you are a mother or the President of an association, as a leader it would benefit you and those you are leading, to concentrate this week on one single word: Compassion.

Bob Briner and Ray Pritchard in their book, The Leadership Lessons of Jesus, speak of compassion making a difference:
"Enduring leadership, the kind that makes a positive, long-range difference, is always characterized by compassion. A compassionate leader cares about people, both as individuals and as a group."

Websters Dictionary defines compassion as: Active sympathetic concern for the suffering of another. And, suffering is defined as mental or physical pain. In a single word injury.

I can relate to suffering. I have had my share of it. But in my selfishness I found that I would rather stay far from the memory of it than get actively involved in it again...even if getting involved means helping someone else through their place of pain. I spent many years wanting to distance myself from returning again to anything that caused me pain or reminded me of the painful places I had lived in.

But then I met a woman that I could not refuse. Her pain resonated within me. Yes it reminded me of places I had been and didn't want to revisit, but it also gave me pause to consider that maybe I had gone through my pain to lend a helping hand to someone in theirs. I realized how selfish I could be when left to my own brand of ministry, or my own way of doing things. I gave pause to the word compassion, and also gave pause to the word suffering. Suddenly I realized that the call to Justice was more than helping the hurting in foreign lands, it was also present right in my own backyard.

The woman that I didn't want to give my heart or time to was in my corner of the world. I didn't have to board a plane, raise funds, or get shots...I just had to say "yes, Lord."

There is a mission field in our homes, in our schools, in our local churches, work places and community. All around us people are walking as those wounded from the pain of real-life. And, as we all know...it's getting more real each day. Jobs lost, houses foreclosed, taxes raised, natural disasters, diseases that we never saw coming. Pain is all around us, and the need is great.

How can justice apply to the people who have so much? Apply it to their hearts. People can have riches, roofs, food and all the trimmings of the good life and still be seriously injured, and facing devastating loses of the heart. These same people are turned away by others as being too much trouble and often feel like second class citizens in their own churches and communities. It's time to ask God to make us leaders after his own heart of compassion.

Does this mean that we say "yes" to every hurting soul that crossed our path? Certainly we must always remember that we are not God. Jesus is the Messiah, the healer and deliverer, not us. We are but one life, and we can not take on every single person. But, we can trust that God will bring into our path people who need tenderness, care, concern, and a helping hand. God will bring into our lives people who need His love. We may not be able to give them everything they need, but we can give what we can.

But what if I have already given so much that I am about to break? That my friend is something called compassion fatigue, and it's very real. When we don't know how to say "no" and we feel that the responsibility of every life rests on us, we can get burnt out, worn out and so tired that we are not good for anyone. God doesn't call us to be burned out, he calls us to be poured out.

A poured out life is one that is first filled. It is a life that is surrendered. It is a life that is sensitive to the leading and direction of God within her. It is a life that says "yes" when yes is what God is calling her to whisper to Him first. God himself then begins to do the work of pouring through this surrendered vessel. Poured out, not burned out. Filled up but not used up. Loved first than loving others next. Open. Available.

• Sympathetic, but never using sympathy as an excuse for compromise.
• Sensitive, but faithfully steering others to truth.
• Lending a hand, but more importantly giving a heart.

Look at what God's Word says:

• "This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another." Zec 7:9
• "Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion," Psalm 103:4
• " The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. " Psalm 116:5
• "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" Matthew 9:36
• "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort," 2 Cr 1:3

Compassion: the active concern for the suffering of another. This is what the picture of Christ's love is to us. He is actively concerned over us, our hurts and our sufferings. If we are seeking to be more conformed into His image than compassion is a good heart prayer, don't you think?

Suggested Resource: He is My Life: Living to Love Others As Jesus Did.
Find this study resource at design4living.org, or at you local bookstore.

This Week's Prayer
Father,
You are the Father of compassion. I so want to have concern for others in a way that is pleasing to you. I don't want to be so filled with self that I can not see the hurt in another's life.Forgive me Lord for all the times I just didn't want to care. Forgive me for doing my own thing, at the expense of not answering your call to lead well. Jesus make me more like you. Have your way in me. Develop me as a leader after your own heart.

Being A Leader that Makes Soul Deposits

All of us know about deposits. We deposit money into the bank, and this deposit enables us to sustain life...pay our bills, buy our food, clothe ourselves. We all need deposits, don't we?

But, this week let's think of a different kind of deposit. SOUL Deposits.


As a leader God gives you the wonderful opportunity to deposit into another person's life. And, like our bank deposit, when the soul has received a deposit of TRUTH and CARE, it is sustained and enabled to receive from God and grow in faith. This is not something to be taken lightly because this deposit brings a life change, a heart change, and a ripple effect which in turn impacts many others.

When you, as a leader, deposit into another person's life, you are not just impacting them, you are affecting all people that their lives touch. So, the next time you think your serving doesn't matter, think again. It does! All women lead in some way. From being a friend, wife, mother, grandmother or aunt....to being a vocational leader such as a nurse, counselor, teacher...to being a ministry leader such as a small group leader, mentor, teacher, hostess, greeter or a multitude of other acts of service...all women lead. And, all women can deposit something significant into the lives of others.

Think of the people you serve, in your home, your small group, at your church, in the workplace. These are people that God has placed in your life for you to make soul deposits into. A soul deposit is not just throwing a Bible verse at them, but a soul deposit is being Christ to them...in whatever way is necessary at the time.

I have a friend who makes many of these deposits. She spends time mentoring younger women, and has even gone into the labor room with one of them...coaching her through the birth of her child. She teaches women how to read their bibles, how to respond to life with faith, and even how to cook a meal! In many ways she is a modern day example of the Apostle Paul mentoring Timothy.

There is one thing I have noticed about this friend...in many ways she is self-less. She is an open vessel that is willing to make a deposit into others lives. In all the years I have known her, I have never heard her whine or complain about the time spent. From the spiritual to the practical, I think she knows that all things are counting towards eternity.

You see, the truth is, when we make deposits into another's life, we are also making a deposit into eternity. We are becoming rich, as we give out of what we have...being willing to say "yes" to God.

God is the God of Deposits.
Take a look at the following verses, and you can see that God is all about depositing into us for the purpose of eternity!

1 Cor 1:22
"He annointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."
1 Cor 5:5
"Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."
Eph 1:14
"Having believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession."

Mentor Moment:
What did Paul teach Timothy about this deposit?

2 Timothy 1:13
"What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Gaurd the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us."

First we are to GAURD the deposit that Christ has deposited into us.
How are you doing that?

Next: ask yourself this....
Am I making a good deposit into someone's life?
What does that look like?
How can the example of Christ's deposit help spur me on to make a deposit into others?

One last thing...often we grow weary of making these deposits. We are people and we get tired and worn out. Our bank account gets near empty. That is why we need to receive daily from the deposit that God himself has placed within us. That is also why we need to identify the things that make deposits into our Soul Tank.

What fills you?
What do you need to keep in your life? What do you need to make sure you allow time for?

For me...Music fills my tank. Many things do, but music is one of the things that quickly fills me. Often when I am empty, listening to music is like gulping water from the Lord's rock. There are many tangible things that fill us. Some women say nature opens them up again, others like to create, and others like to be in community with women....I have a friend who takes the top down of her convertible and with hair blowing in the wind, gets re-energized again.

Just be sure that you always remember that God's Word, and Jesus Himself, are the first places to run to when you need a deposit of the soul. Because, you can drink from many wells, but if you don't drink from Him, you will always be running on empty. Only Jesus Christ quenches our thirst, fills our tank, and gives us everlasting grace to then deposit into another.

Prayer
Father, I come to you as a leader and humble myself before you. I am asking you to show me what in my life is empty and where I need to go to your for fresh deposit. Then Lord, I am actively seeking you on how you would like me to deposit into others during this season of my life. I believe you will show me. Less of me, and more of You Jesus. That is my prayer.

Small Group Leader Ah-Ha Moment !

A woman called me this morning. She is a small group leader and her friends are also small group leaders. They facilitate the discussion during bible study at their church. This morning's call was a leader's "ah-ha" moment. And as simplistic as it sounds, it's very important to repeat and for all of us who lead, to remember.

Here it is: She realized that leading a table group was not something, in her week, to be taken lightly. Leading others is REAL and very important eternal work. What was said, imparted and implanted in these women. at her table, was a valuable deposit that would last forever. A soul deposit.

She went on to tell me how too she forgets about the soul deposit, and often she is more worried about what "to wear" to bible study class . Her focus is on self as she drives to the meeting, and her focus is on self when she measures if the women were responsive to "her."

By the end of the day, it was either good or bad, based on how she felt the group went. This morning, in her moment of clarity, she realized the significance of leading a small group. And, yes, that it wasn't about her. Her part was just to "show up" and show up prepared to be God's vessel. In her case that would mean arriving with the bible study done and questions prepared to facilitate the group as unto the Lord.

Her concern over clothes or other's reactions to her leading style were not to be of worry or concern to her any more. Being a leader is not about how we look, or how we act, it's about who we are. So being a leader is all about the heart. It's not about popularity. It's about living out of our POSITION in Christ.

There you have it...one woman's ah-ha moment after several years of leading in her best outfit!
Let's Repeat It:

• Being a leader is not about how we look, or how we act, it's about who we are.
• Being a leader is showing up to make a soul deposit in an other's life.
• Being a leader is not about me, and if it is, I need to go back to the drawing board and ask God to make it very clear to me what leadership is all about.

Prayer
Lord, Make us leaders who value the importance of the eternal work that you are doing, behind the scenes, in the hearts, in the renewing minds, of the people we serve. Make us leaders who want to decrease , in self, and increase in YOU.