There are several definitions for the word leader. The one that stands out to me the most this morning is this one from Dictionary.com: A horse harnessed at the front of a team. The British Dictionary offers this: The first man on a climbing rope.
Leadership. The act of leading. Putting yourself out in front to guide whomever it is that you are leading. There must be trust in the team that you are pulling along, their focus must remain on the leader or they will veer off course.
A man once told me this story…
He was in flight on a small puddle-jumper plane at night, with his friend who was a pilot. It was just the two of them. This man’s friend asked him if he would like to take over the controls and… well, any man would say YES! So that’s what he did. As he was piloting through the night sky, his friend (the pilot) dozed off. The plane soon received two calls from air control asking if everything was okay, because the plane had veered off-course a little bit. Hmmmm… WAKE UP THE PILOT, YO!! He wakes his friend and asks, how do you keep on course through the night sky when it’s dark and you can’t see anything? His friend told him this: you take your focus and place it on something out on the horizon. A star. When you keep your eyes on the horizon, you won’t veer off course. And guess what? It totally worked!
So back to leadership… In the book of Matthew, Jesus shares with us a different style of leading… it’s actually about a yoke. A yoke is an oxen’s tool for working hard. It fastens over the neck of TWO and it’s a shared load. It makes the burden of carrying or pulling the load MUCH easier. With Jesus as our Leader, He offers to share the yoke of life’s burdens with us. Someone with more pulling power is up front helping. THE Leader is side by side with us, yoked together and helping!
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. -Matthew 11:28-30
Take me to THAT Leader, because I can use all the help I can get, right?? Seriously, all you have to do is ask. To quote the infamous ET, just “phone Home”.
Can't it all be about dogs? 