Holding Out Hope

Do you see the glass as half full or half empty? You’re familiar with this way of dividing the world into two groups of people, and you probably have a ready answer. If you’re in the half empty camp, you think of yourself as a realist. You reject the label of “pessimist” if others try to apply it to you. That is certainly how I see myself – a realist, not a pessimist. In my leadership roles, I’ve used my experiences and skills to help organizations determine that the glass is actually 45% or 62% full (which is far better than the rough approximation of “half”). In doing so, I’ve also been able to map out the priorities and steps that need to be taken to fill that glass. But several years ago, I heard a speaker at a conference say that “leaders must always be the ones to hold out hope.” That challenged me to rethink my “realistic” approach to leadership. Did my declarations and calculations of our organizational needs “hold out hope”? Is this kind of “hope” different from unfounded and unrealistic optimism? As a follower of Christ, my faith should speak to these questions. Romans 8:24 reminds me that “hope that is seen is no hope at all.” It’s clear that Christian leadership involves much more than calculating the precise contents of that glass. Especially in these days after Easter, we should lead with hope. So this week, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>