Why is it that some people overflow with ideas, risk-taking, and flair, while others budget their lives to the last penny and only feel safe within well-defined regimes and boundaries?
It apparently pleased God to give us various gifts, skills, and personalities. Leaders thrive on vision-casting, helping us to recognize new paths to move an organization or individuals out of deep entrenchment into future greatness. Administrators use their gifts to manage people and resources. Teachers research facts and methods, happy to explain knowledge to anyone who will listen. Artists reflect the Creator by looking at everything with a tilt of the head or a squint that blurs the original idea into possibilities yet unexplored.
Conflict arises when the MBA meets the creative thinker. "Where is your plan?" demands the organizer. "You can't just dump ideas into a meeting. You have to think them through first and present us with your plan for consideration."
Meanwhile, the idea person is puzzled. "Why do you want me to create a structure for this? If everyone thought about these things together, we'd find our way from stagnation and tradition to our full potential. Oh, and we'd love to hear what you're thinking in management, too."
In another scenario, imagine a builder with the gift of service, cobbling an emergency shelter from non-traditional items. She cares deeply that "this can work," and little for "this is how it should work - or this is how we always used this item in the past." The last thing she needs is a carpentry teacher at her elbow, explaining: "Oh no, that is the wrong way. That specialty board is designed for ..."
There is a place for every gift, every skill, and every personality within the Family of God. More staggering, according to scripture, is that no child of God is more beloved or more important to the Kingdom than another. Yet within the Church, those with position and power hold back those who differ from them by "spiritualizing" authority and position. (Has anyone ever heard, "Touch not the Lord's anointed," when a pastor feels threatened?) Insecure bureaucrats fear the volatility of those who explode with God's creativity and are unconventional about using God's resources. On the other hand, those who love the latest worship trends and rush off to every conference for ideas feel utterly frustrated by those who value stability and tradition.
Feel free to look at Dominic's 30 Crazy Days for inspiration. Then pause to thank God that he's not chairman of your board!
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*I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Psalm 9:1-2 NIV
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16 NIV
*Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31 NIV
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