When I first saw this interview with Simon Sinek I immediately wanted to watch it again. So much of it hit me about my life. It wasn't until fairly recently that I realized I fell into the millennial category, I was born in 1986, but apparently that is my generation. I do want purpose, and I want to make an impact on the world, and while these positive attributes, they are hindered by the other aspects of being a millennial.
I've fallen into the lower self-esteem trend that he talks about. I've recently realized that I have a sense of entitlement brought on by impatience. I've found myself lacking joy and a sense of fulfillment. I've never been one for participation awards, and I do wonder about my ability to form deep and meaningful relationships, although being a pretty heavy introvert has something to do with that as well.
All of these things have combined to make me feel like I have to have it all together. For years I lived with the mindset that the weight of the world was on my shoulders, and that I couldn't let anyone see my weaknesses, or ask anyone for help. The culture presented through social media only added to this because as Sinek says, social media presents a filtered view of life where everyone else's life is prefect and all together. For both of these reasons I felt like everything should just fall into place, work, relationships, life in general. That isn't the reality I've found.
I've been let go by three churches, and after the last one was unable to find another ministry job. I spent six months unemployed, and then another ten months under employed. When God finally provided my current job, which has been the biggest job blessing to date, in no small part due to the fact that it has allowed me to pursue my graduate degrees, I found contentment in the work place for the first time. And while I greatly appreciate my job, I do feel the lack of being able to make an impact.
I've read Wild at Heart and The Way of the Wild Heart by John Eldredge more times than I can remember, I even got the audio versions of both of them and have listened to them in part or whole several times. In both Eldredge and Sinek we see the need for good leadership. I think the world has a lack of good leaders, and a lack of a real desire to submit to good leadership, I say good leadership because there are bad leaders, immature leaders, uninitiated leaders who end up being the blind leading the blind. But in the rare occasion when a good leader is found, there are those under him who feel they can lead better, know more, don't need to be led. This refusal to submit has caused a lot of issues.
Sinek says that we want to make an impact, which is the summit of the mountain, but we don't see the mountain. We live in a world of instant gratification, and so we don't want to pay our dues in order to get something worth having. When we don't work for something, it's cheap. We live in a world of store bought character, prefaded clothing, jeans with holes in them, and hats with the worn in look. But money doesn't buy character, and impact and significance are not instantaneous.
I want to be intentional man, and not an impatient millennial boy. I want to become a good leader, full of earned character, that is able to lead others to purpose and help them make an impact. That's the top of the mountain for me, but I'm learning that I don't get to land on the top. If I want to get to the top, I have to climb. That leaves me with three options. One, I can say, "This is too hard, it's not fair" and sit pouting at the foot of the mountain talking about how I could but making excuses for why I don't. (I regret to say I've done this in the past) The second option is to set out alone, and trying to summit by myself, something that is doable but difficult and in all honesty, very unlikely. The third is the option I'm trying to pursue. You set out with a guide, a good leader, and a group of climbing partners. The guide has been to the top, or at least a lot farther up the mountain than you have, and your climbing partners share the same desire as you. I've been blessed with the ability to choose this third option, but it's a difficult choice to actually follow through on. Your guide is going to call you to do things that seem dangerous and you aren't sure that you can do. Your climbing partners are going to push you to your limits. It's easy to stay at the base of the mountain, but the only impact you make there is from sitting on the ground.
I love what Sinek says, and I'm challenged by it. It's easy to write this post, but it needs to go beyond that to action, and that is where it gets tricky. I've taken some steps already, I've deleted two of my biggest time wasting apps from my phone. But I want to be more intentional than that. I want to start leaving it in my pocket during lunch at work, and trying to connect with the people I work with in conversation. On our retreat I'll bring my phone if there is an accident or emergency, but other than that I won't use it.
I don't want to be a typical millennial. I don't want to fall into the stereotype of lazy, impatient, and entitled. Why we can't help what we've been given, we have a choice in what we do with it. As Gandalf says to Frodo, "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." I can choose to blame the hand I was dealt, or I can take what I've been given and do something about it. I can sit at the base of the mountain, or I can take advantage of the people God has placed in my life and set out for the summit to make an impact. Let's climb.
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
No comments:
Post a Comment