New Year’s resolution: A measure of leadership?
Part 1
I have been an active member of the gym health club for over 15 years. Every January the gym is full. The reason for this is that people make new year’s resolutions, and I am one of them. There is nothing wrong with that. However, as we approach winter, the numbers at the gym drop.
Recently, I could not help but wonder if seeing your resolutions through has something to do with leadership? Leading one’s self. I believe that leadership starts with leading me. Is it not the reason why some people will say, a leader is born?
In Luke 8:42–48., the story of a woman who led herself is narrated. Jesus felt her leadership amid the crowd that pressed Him at all sides. For those who might not be familiar with the Bible, this is how Luke narrates the event:
“A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed.
If the above is not leadership, that get out of the comfort zone, I am not sure what it is. She took leadership and made sure that she positioned herself and occupied the space that she was not supposed to occupy. According to the Levitical laws, she was unclean, and touching the Rabbi was regarded as an intolerable presumption and wrong. Yet, she did it, and took position in the space that was not made for her. By accommodating that act of leadership Jesus in turn positioned Himself in the scrutiny. Therefore, both leaders, met in the compromised space. The woman led herself, and by doing so, she was giving others authorization to be. John Quincy Adams put it this way, “if your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”. That in my opinion is successfully leading yourself.
Jesus was leading the crowd, and the woman was leading herself from behind the crowd and in the vulnerable position. This shows that, one does not need position to lead, as you lead yourself, the others will follow you.
According to Mark 1: 5, Jesus led Himself. The gospel of Mark.1:35 reads,
“Early in the morning, well before sunrise, Jesus rose and went to a deserted place where he could be alone in prayer”.
Jesus led Himself to the solitary place. The other translations say it was His custom. That means, He taught His body to wake up. Waking up early to go and pray in the solitary place or waking up at 4h00 in the morning to go to the gym before going to work is one thing. Doing that every morning unceasingly is quite another. It is relentlessly training one’s body to comfortably operate out of comfort zone. It is only a leader who does that because the leader is always the one who has a vision for her/his life.
To answer the question of the title of this devotion, yes, to stick to the new year’s resolutions is the measure of leadership. It takes commitment, stubborn determination to teach the body to be comfortable in an uncomfortable routine. As we are about to begin, yet another year, with new resolutions, let us remember that, it is not about how many times we fall, but it is about getting up every time we fall.
