Letting Go. Turning Loose. Releasing the Squeeze.
Most people, when entering into a leadership role of other people, particularly when working in an organization of volunteers,…make the major mistake of smothering their followers with demands, orders, expectations, and training rather than leading those followers by loving them and helping them as they grow at their own pace and accomplish their own dreams and goals,…not yours, their leader. Such a person as I am describing is simply blown away by the thought of relaxing their gargantuan grip on their followers. The reason this is so is because releasing your leadership supposed authority automatically introduces the terror of risk,…the panic of losing or giving away control of the group. This type of actual parting between the leader and his followers just cannot happen without some degree of inward bleeding. The coward heart fears to surrender its prized toys,…even though it must eventually say good-bye to them….whether it wants to or not.
Similar to losing a mate or a child, experts tell us from years of observing and evaluating such situations that our first response is denial: “No!” In a rather extensive psychosomatic research project, the Holmes-Rahe Stress Test, it was revealed that most people cannot cope with the full blast of 300 “life-change units” in any given twelve month period without the possibility of severe mental, emotional, and spiritual repercussions. Most interestingly, among the stress creating experiences, losing a mate (100), losing a marriage (73), and losing a close family member (63) rated right at the top. It is just plain hard to let go. Turning loose heightens our stress!
The truth is that similar to releasing a dream; or allowing a child sufficient space to grow up; or permitting a friend to have the freedom to be and to do what they personally choose requires and demands a great deal of personal maturity on your own part. What a true test of your own insecurity!
Leaders and wanna-be leaders are all too often hindered from giving up their treasures out of fear for their own safety. But wait a minute! One must always know and remember that everything is safe that is committed to the Lord, Jesus Christ. In fact, nothing is really safe which is not so committed….No child. No job. No romance. No friend. No future. No personal relationship. No business. No dream.
If you are doubting this last statement of truth let’s quickly check it out for verification within the pages of Holy Scripture. Just look at Abraham with his almost-adult son Isaac. Look in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 22. The old Patriarch’s treasured delights rested in the young boy. That personal relationship would well have bordered upon the perilous–if the father would not have come to grips with releasing his own son. It was at this point that the great Jehovah God taught Abraham a basic lesson in life.
“Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering…”
Genesis 22 : 2
It was time to turn him loose. Abraham might have started pleading, bargaining, manipulating, or even arguing but that would not have caused the Almighty God to choose an alternate course. God’s plan was already in place, and nothing Abraham could do would stop it or divert it. No–Abraham had to open his hands and surrender on that ancient altar the one thing that eclipsed the Son from his heart. It painfully and cruelly hurt–beyond human imagination…But it indeed was effective.
The greater the possessiveness,…the greater the pain of separation.
The old miser within all of us will never lie down quietly and die obediently to our whisper. He must be torn out like the tap root of a Cypress Tree, He must be extracted in agony and bleed like a tooth jerked out of a person’s jaw. Even under these truths and warnings we all still need to harden ourselves against his piteous begging, recognizing it as echoes from the hollow chamber of self-pity,…one of the most hideous sins of the human heart.
You ask, as have I on many occasions,….What is it that God wants me to do?
I will tell you…He wants you to hold all things loosely…That He might reign within you,…without a rival. With no threats to His throne. And with just enough splinters in your pride to keep your hands empty and your heart warm and receptive to the indwelling of The Holy Spirit of God.
You do not always need to know why you are being directed to perform in a certain manner and way. You just need to be obedient and in total submission to God’s presence and guidance. This thing known as successful leadership of other people is all about Trust and Obedience to the instructions of God Almighty.
You will always be the most productive and the happiest in living your life when you are the freest.
No man has the right to own another man.
Happiness and creative production all begin with Holding Things Loosely.
Leaders Gotta Lead……………