" The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. " James 5:11Every 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.
- "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
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.
.JPG)
1 comment:
:) amen!
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