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“Fear God, dear child—respect your leaders; don’t be defiant or mutinous. Without warning your life can turn upside down, and who knows how or when it might happen?” Proverbs 24:21-22

I’m of the belief there’s a leader in all of us.

I don’t buy into all that personality profiling that labels some people leaders and others followers.

I truly believe that at any given moment in life we are all either leading or following. It’s not a one-way thing. It’s both. All the time. On-going. Ever-changing. Continuously rotating.

To my kids, I’m a leader.
But in discerning what’s really going on in their hearts, I’m a follower.

To the grocery clerk, I’m a follower.
But to smile and show her the love of Jesus, I’m a leader.

To my husband, I’m both a follower and a leader.
When one is weak the other is strong.

As a driver behind the wheel of a vehicle, I’m a leader.
But as a law-abiding citizen, I’m a follower to the rules of the road.

To my team, I’m a leader.
But as a team player choosing to see my teammates as equally capable contributors, I’m a follower.

Leadership is back-and-forth. It’s an ebb-and-flow that carries responsibility to wisely discern the roles we live from moment-to-moment.

So when Proverbs 24:21-22 comes along to say, “respect your leaders,” I don’t think of it as a position thing… or a personality thing… I think of it as a humanity thing.

Fear God: so you see everything He has made as valuable.
Dear Child: so you are keenly aware of the importance to always be learning.
Respect your leaders: submit to everyone in the same way He submitted His life to us.

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Making Space

Carving Out Time For God In The Midst Of Your Busy Life

With a million things to do and not enough hours in the day to get it done, it's easy to zone out and slip into autopilot in order to survive. But perhaps life is not about adding more things to your already lengthy list, but rather, about pausing in the midst of it all to consider if what you're doing is really important.