The Brightest star - The lonely road of Leadership
Written by Dewald Pretorius
It was a Friday night after a braai at my friend Dave’s house. I was busy driving home in the dark, as load-shedding was still going on. I finally arrived home and noticed how beautiful the stars were amidst the power-outage in the city.
It was for this very reason that I decided to slowdown for about 25 minutes and just admire the wonders of God’s creation. As I was looking out at the stars, I noticed one specific star on the horizon. It looked as though there were no other stars close to this one. Almost as if this star was looking over all the other stars. It was also clear that this star was the one that burned the brightest of them all.
Suddenly my eyes were opened, and I could see that this star resembled the path of leadership.
People often only see the glorious parts of being a leader, but what very few people realise is that leadership is a lonely and hard path to travel. As my mentor, Tiaan Spies, told me when he started training me as a leader:
“Leadership is a lonely path to walk and as your leadership capacity grows so too does the sense of loneliness. As a leader people will often only come to you when they need help. There are very few that actually come to you and help you from a place of selflessness.”
Here is the harsh reality of leadership, especially Godly leadership. You are going to feel alone often or even majority of the time. People will use you, betray you, judge you and even hate you. However, just like that star, God has set you apart that you might guard all the other stars. If you press into God, then He will make you shine brighter than all the other stars as an extension of His light to His people.
As Christ said in John 16:33:
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]”.
The take-aways for this session are:
• The brightest star often walks the loneliest road
• Watch over and guard those that God has placed under your leadership
• Your tribulations in life will increase as your capacity as a Godly leader multiplies
• Keep seeking Christ more and more
• You are an extension of His light and will not be overcome by your tribulations
If you want to engage a bit more with the Waypoint family join us for our weekly podcast, Waypoint Connect where we talk to people about real-life stories through the lens of faith. You can catch us live Thursdays on Facebook or go listen to previous episodes on the Waypoint app or Waypoint Youtube channel.
It was for this very reason that I decided to slowdown for about 25 minutes and just admire the wonders of God’s creation. As I was looking out at the stars, I noticed one specific star on the horizon. It looked as though there were no other stars close to this one. Almost as if this star was looking over all the other stars. It was also clear that this star was the one that burned the brightest of them all.
Suddenly my eyes were opened, and I could see that this star resembled the path of leadership.
People often only see the glorious parts of being a leader, but what very few people realise is that leadership is a lonely and hard path to travel. As my mentor, Tiaan Spies, told me when he started training me as a leader:
“Leadership is a lonely path to walk and as your leadership capacity grows so too does the sense of loneliness. As a leader people will often only come to you when they need help. There are very few that actually come to you and help you from a place of selflessness.”
Here is the harsh reality of leadership, especially Godly leadership. You are going to feel alone often or even majority of the time. People will use you, betray you, judge you and even hate you. However, just like that star, God has set you apart that you might guard all the other stars. If you press into God, then He will make you shine brighter than all the other stars as an extension of His light to His people.
As Christ said in John 16:33:
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]”.
The take-aways for this session are:
• The brightest star often walks the loneliest road
• Watch over and guard those that God has placed under your leadership
• Your tribulations in life will increase as your capacity as a Godly leader multiplies
• Keep seeking Christ more and more
• You are an extension of His light and will not be overcome by your tribulations
If you want to engage a bit more with the Waypoint family join us for our weekly podcast, Waypoint Connect where we talk to people about real-life stories through the lens of faith. You can catch us live Thursdays on Facebook or go listen to previous episodes on the Waypoint app or Waypoint Youtube channel.
Posted in Engage by Dewald
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