Mike Bonem
Have you ever watched a bird soaring high in the air, gliding effortlessly on the updrafts in the mountains. If you have, you may have thought, “I wish I could be that bird. It must be great to be so free, for life to be so easy.” That was my initial thought when I observed a similar scene this summer. But that thought was followed by a second one: Do I really know that this bird’s life is easy? In truth, its gliding may just be an efficient moment in a never-ending quest to find food to live on.
As leaders prepare for the start of a new ministry year, it’s easy to see someone else’s context and wish you could trade places. Their situation seems so much easier or less stressful. Certainly some contexts are more difficult than others. But every church or ministry setting brings its unique challenges. Just like the bird I saw flying high in the sky, what we see of others is a distant and incomplete picture. That “successful” church down the street may be struggling with staff turnover or tight finances or key members who are unhappy.
Wishing to be a bird – or to trade places with another ministry leader – is not a productive use of our time. It’s far better to make the decision to “bloom where we are planted.” Galatians 6:9 says it this way: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up.”
How would your mindset change if you adopted this verse as your mantra this fall? If you truly believed that you’re exactly where God wants you to be in this season? We don’t know how long the season will last or what the harvest will be, but we can be confident that God, who provides for the bird flying high in the sky, loves us deeply and will provide for us as well. That should be all the encouragement we need to soar in our leadership.
