Hi Mike,

I really liked your article today.  On a busy Monday full of distractions before the holiday, it made me THINK!

I'm thinking first of the parable in the new testament of the three men that were entrusted with different amounts of money according to their abilities and told to do with it as they saw fit.  Remember that?  The first two went out, put the money entrusted to them to work and doubled its value.  The third dug a hole and buried the money given to him focusing only on protecting what was given to him.

All other meanings of this parable aside, I have always read it in terms of skills and abilities.  God has given each of us unique skills, abilities, talents, passions.  We can choose to keep them to ourselves or we can put them to work for the greater good.

Still, I'm thinking of what might cause a leader not to act.  Fear certainly is a cause as is lack of knowledge or experience.  You also mention the ways we limit ourselves through comparisons to others as a cause of us not acting as leaders.  I'm also thinking of those moments when its not fear or anything else except sheer exhaustion that gets in our way of acting.  It sure does for me.

I feel so blessed with everything given me as a leader that I often risk burning myself out.  Where I trip up most often is in the moments when I am tired or feel as though the energy I am putting forth on other people's behalf is being sucked into a black hole of unquenchable need or worse, a bottomless pit of thanklessness.  Have you ever felt that as a leader?

In those moments, perhaps these questions pop up:  "Why do I always have to be the one to see that things get done?" or "Why am I always the one people turn to for this?" or "Seriously...??  Me again...Am I really the only one you could ask?" or quite simply "I just don't feel it right now.  Why should I?"

Ultimately, through support of loved ones and the holy spirit, I am brought out of my emotional traffic jam and I see that the answer to the question of "Why me?"  (for me personally) is:  because you CAN.  God gifted me with my own special blend of skills, abilities, talent, and passion.  They only work when I let them and when I enact them fully.

Yes, I get tired now and then from being called TO ACT and lead.  In those moments, taking your excellent point, I find it works best if I do what I can with what I have, right where I am.  One day perhaps I'm on at 120% and the next day, I tire and dial it back to 60%.  Again, the point is to do what you can with what you have wherever you are (including mentally and emotionally).  Our level of engagement and/energy as leaders may ebb and flow just like everything in life ebbs and flows.  However, we should never just stop.  We should never not act if we're able.

Taking your words again, rather than focus on the things we cannot do (or do not want to do), giving them authority to make us a victim (or dare I say whiners), we choose instead to focus on what we can do (at the level of energy that we have in that moment) and we continue to be creators...as we were meant to be.

Gratefully,

Joel Peterson