Can You Become a Leader?

I am currently reading Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders with a small group from church. While I know very little about spiritual leadership, I believe that it would also be correct for me to say that I know very little about leadership in general. It is obvious that what the world calls a leader is not always aligned with the characteristics of Godly leaders - and so the topic can be a little confusing.

But I am in for the ride - and I am looking forward to becoming a better leader in every situation possible. Whether it is among peers or a bible study, I believe that every person has influence over others - and the possibility to learn some leadership skills should not be ignored.

With that in mind, I want to say that I feel very inadequate to be a leader....and I have a LOT of learning to do.

Explaining the importance of natural leadership skills, Sanders compiled a list of skills that indicate leadership potential. While reading two pages full of skills that leaders need to have, I felt somewhat embarrassed that most of those skills were not natural to me.

Skill number 4 was all about being able to turn a disappointment into a creative new opportunity.

Sounds simple, right?

Well, I may be the worse person in this world when it comes to being able to turn a disappointment into an opportunity. I was convicted of this during a bible study meeting yesterday when a friend mentioned his struggles with this principle. I needed to hear about his experience in order to realize that I tend to be a pessimist many times in life. When things don't go as I planned I get discouraged. I am tempted to quit when a situation turns out to be a disappointment. I end up seeing every failure and forget about the opportunities for new goals.

The Bible is full of examples of man and women who took life and everything that came with it and did their best with what they had. Paul spent years in prison writing many of the Bible books I read today. Daniel lived most of his life in captivity standing up for his faith. Esther saved her people while serving the king. David trusted God even when all he had was a slingshot and a rock to defeat a giant. All these situations could have been looked at as a disappointment - How disappointing that Paul would be in prison for preaching the gospel. How could God let Daniel be captured to become a servant to another people? It is too bad that Esther was separated from her people in order to be beautified for the king. It is a shame David was not as big as the giant...

Do you see how easy it is to look at these situations with pessimist lenses?

In reality, Paul, Daniel, Esther, David and many others saw their circumstance as an opportunity to grow in faith and trust God. Each individual saw purpose in their situation.

This is something I need to work on. I no longer want to wallow around in the middle of a disappointing situation. I want to see the positive. I want to see God's hands orchestrating something that I could never accomplish on my own. I want to be the kind of leader who can look at a situation and know where to go from there - knowing that new opportunities are to come.