Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Leadership Lessons
When you start a blog you have all the best intentions to post on a regular basis. Well as I am sure you will see... that didn't happen with this blog and our new family.
Life has changed so much over the last few months as I am sure all you seasoned parents knew would happen, but I have to say it has been a joy and continual adventure. What I want to focus on tonight is the idea of leadership and how being a parent seems to have a growing affect in our leadership efforts.
As a brand new mom when people would tell me to follow my mothering instincts I would constantly think to myself... "I don't have mothering instincts... that's why I am losing it right now!". However, a few months into this adventure with Sam and Ethan and that phrase makes perfect sense to me. When we have 3 nights of my normally happy baby being cranky, not sleeping in his bed but instead sleeping on the couch with no end in sight, I quickly jump into my instinctual mother mode. First I pray... God I can't handle this please help me know what to do and then I think through the list of things to try and hope that one will work. Ethan will ask me what we should do and I find myself giving an answer. It might not be the right answer, but as a co-worker reminds us... something worth doing is worth doing poorly. So we jump into whatever our best guess is and attempt to lead Sam out of whatever the current phase is. So far we figure it out within a week (sometimes with the wisdom of others... which we greatly appreciate.)
To many this may not seem like a lesson in leadership, but to me it is every time. First as I head to work where it is my life's calling to work with people, I have become very comfortable with my prayer... "God I can't handle this, please help me know what to do."Then I wait, listen and I have to be ready to try something different and be okay with doing things poorly. For someone who has always claimed to give 110% doing things poorly is a challenge, but what I am learning from Sam is that there is always tomorrow and at the end of the road we will see the value of each decision both good and bad. It's just a chance to learn and get better.
The other thing that I am beginning to learn is that in leadership you aren't always going to be popular, but it is always important to explain why you do what you do. Although Sam is little I am already seeing moments when I won't be popular. We are learning the word no and I see it in his little eyes that he doesn't like me telling him not to do something. However, I know that what is best for him is more important than what I am feeling. Leadership seems to have a similar tone... just because it is easy to do something doesn't mean it's the best leadership decision.
As Sam continues to grow I am certain I will continue to learn what it means to be a leader. What I know to be more true than anything else is that God is using Sam to show me what he wants to work on in me. This mommy wants to be a great leader for my son and only by letting God teach me can that happen, so this is to say that I look forward to the ways that God continues to 'nique up on me as I learn his lessons in leadership through parenting.
Hunting Unique Rabbits!
Gayle
p.s. Sam is 7 1/2 months old... I must have blinked when that rabbit passed by. :-)
Life has changed so much over the last few months as I am sure all you seasoned parents knew would happen, but I have to say it has been a joy and continual adventure. What I want to focus on tonight is the idea of leadership and how being a parent seems to have a growing affect in our leadership efforts.
As a brand new mom when people would tell me to follow my mothering instincts I would constantly think to myself... "I don't have mothering instincts... that's why I am losing it right now!". However, a few months into this adventure with Sam and Ethan and that phrase makes perfect sense to me. When we have 3 nights of my normally happy baby being cranky, not sleeping in his bed but instead sleeping on the couch with no end in sight, I quickly jump into my instinctual mother mode. First I pray... God I can't handle this please help me know what to do and then I think through the list of things to try and hope that one will work. Ethan will ask me what we should do and I find myself giving an answer. It might not be the right answer, but as a co-worker reminds us... something worth doing is worth doing poorly. So we jump into whatever our best guess is and attempt to lead Sam out of whatever the current phase is. So far we figure it out within a week (sometimes with the wisdom of others... which we greatly appreciate.)
To many this may not seem like a lesson in leadership, but to me it is every time. First as I head to work where it is my life's calling to work with people, I have become very comfortable with my prayer... "God I can't handle this, please help me know what to do."Then I wait, listen and I have to be ready to try something different and be okay with doing things poorly. For someone who has always claimed to give 110% doing things poorly is a challenge, but what I am learning from Sam is that there is always tomorrow and at the end of the road we will see the value of each decision both good and bad. It's just a chance to learn and get better.
The other thing that I am beginning to learn is that in leadership you aren't always going to be popular, but it is always important to explain why you do what you do. Although Sam is little I am already seeing moments when I won't be popular. We are learning the word no and I see it in his little eyes that he doesn't like me telling him not to do something. However, I know that what is best for him is more important than what I am feeling. Leadership seems to have a similar tone... just because it is easy to do something doesn't mean it's the best leadership decision.
As Sam continues to grow I am certain I will continue to learn what it means to be a leader. What I know to be more true than anything else is that God is using Sam to show me what he wants to work on in me. This mommy wants to be a great leader for my son and only by letting God teach me can that happen, so this is to say that I look forward to the ways that God continues to 'nique up on me as I learn his lessons in leadership through parenting.
Hunting Unique Rabbits!
Gayle
p.s. Sam is 7 1/2 months old... I must have blinked when that rabbit passed by. :-)
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