We concluded last week on Good Friday with heavy thoughts.
I trust that you had a blessed Easter weekend with family and friends.
Sunday morning, the black shroud cloth is removed, and bursts of beautiful color
are the greeting for the day.
We celebrate with JOY!
Jesus has risen!
New life, new season, new hope!
Again, I hope you celebrated well.
I heard a mind-boggling statistic yesterday.
Google gets 3 billion inquiries a day!
Seriously.
I couldn’t help but think that this is right up there…
with the number that mothers of Core and Love of Learners get nearly daily as well!
In light of this…
I began to ponder the power of questions.
There are at least three types that are integral to a healthy Leadership Education.
Retrospective, Introspective and those involving Circumspect.
Retrospective questions and evaluations involve the past.
They look at time and events and evaluate their merit, the lessons that were learned…
the situations that taught.
Hopefully, it is a time to evaluate things from a healthy perspective and not one of self condemnation…
or the condemnation of others.
Individuals aspiring to good, solid leadership see circumstances as opportunities to become better…
stronger…
more effective.
A second type of question or inquiry would be introspective.
This entails personal examination mentally, emotionally and physically.
It is mainly concerned with one’s own personal thoughts and feelings…
rather than the environment.
This definitely involves some discipline and vision.
So many times, we tend to default to another individual…
person…
group…
to build our leadership communities, our accountability groups, our colloquia venues.
But the reality is…
it is our responsibility.
In order for these to be healthy and to thrive, the introspective piece is so important.
Are you educating yourself…
rather than constantly worrying about others?
This would include your own children.
What are you reading?
Are you instrumental in taking the initiative…
and contributing to the building of community in your area?
Or are you waiting for someone else to do it for you?
Last, but most definitely not least…
we need to consistently keep a pulse on the circumspect.
This action involves analyzing what is going on around you…
which would entail the commitment to actually looking!
Do you choose healthy environments…
where “iron is sharpening iron” in the personal relationships that are cultivated with time and effort?
Are you watchful…
discreet…
and prudent…
where the things concerning your time and efforts are concerned?
Good leaders or those aspiring to be…
will ask these questions often.
We are blessed to have a family in our area that models excellent stewardship with their resources.
Twice a year, they share of their abundance with community.
These are amazing events to participate in.
Saturday’s, of course, involved Easter.
Beginning with a huge egg hunt.
Accompanied by industrial bounce houses and games…
also brought in for the children.
There are friends…
many of whom you only see at these bi-annual events.
There are “strangers” as well…
lending the opportunity to practice a community atmosphere…
that celebrates the old…
and embraces the new.
And the food…
always the same fare…
is amazing!
When this party gets started, hundreds converge.
Because this family understands that building community…
through sharing and generosity…
be it materially or mentally…
builds relationships.
And those relationships discuss…
ruminate…
question…
and bring about change.
How long has it been since you’ve asked these questions?
These particular ones don’t involve Google.
But when they’re practiced…
they change the world!
Thank you for sharing Teri! It’s a timely message and I thnk many are feeling it. Saturday evening William and I were discussing this very thing. William is teaching a class on this topic, “Becoming a Founder”. We often look to the American founding generation, we see what remarkable things they accomplished and wish we could be like them. When in reality, we must become founders. Every generation is the foundation for the next, what legacy are WE leaving the next generation? I love to read your posts because in them I read what I have already seen in your life. You are building hope, appreciation, strength, compassion and commitment to ideals and principles that enliven and enrich the world. You really are founding an amazing world, I think I’d better get busy in my neighborhood too!
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Wow, thanks so much for that message! Those three types of questions are not only useful in developing Leadership Ed, but also in my personal life to evaluate where I am, what improvements have been made and where I’d like to be. This then requires me to determine what changes I need to make in my personal life to become the person I’d like to be. Thanks, I needed to be reminded of that. I appreciate your efforts! And I’ll try to go back and read the entries I’ve missed lately. Thanks for your consistency!
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Thanks for sharing! I also am finding this same message in my life and others, things I am reading and hearing;pondering. I just have not heard it stated so eloquently! Keep ‘em comin’!
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I loved how you broke down leadership education into those three groups, well put, well said! In my experience I’ve found circumspection to be the hardest, reading is a lot easier then living, today.
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