Everything.
Everything you have.
Imagine with me that day long ago by the Sea of Galilee, the young boy who arrived to hear the message. Surely, he woke up that day the same as we do every day, now. Perhaps it was not a particularly solid plan, but just something on his calendar:
Hear message of the “Miracle Man” by the Sea.
Pack a lunch.
There was nothing special about his lunch either. Two fish and five loaves of bread, plenty for himself.
Upon arrival, seeing the multitudes of people gathered around the man, I can’t imagine this young boy thought anything at all about his personal lunch basket. In fact, I’m sure he simply felt glad he’d come prepared as it may be a long day.
What must have crossed his mind when he was approached by Andrew, who was rushing around in a panic and spotted his food? I’m sure our young friend thought, What could he possibly want from me, as he was ushered quickly to the “Miracle Man’s” side. Gently, the man took his packed lunch and one-by-one, every man, woman and child in sight—well over 5,000— were fed to their satisfaction. Not wanting to waste anything, the man instructed his team to gather the ‘leftovers” and those pieces of fish and bread filled twelve baskets.
Then in an instant it was all clear.
Our young friend is us. Today. Wherever you are.
Everything.
Everything you have.
The talents.
The hurt.
The strengths.
The failures.
The triumphs.
Recently, while leading a group of church leaders on a team retreat to lay out their strategic plan for the coming year, I was shown exactly how God works with everything you have, especially when it’s nothing.
As a strategy consultant to government and nonprofit agencies and corporate learning and development departments, my work is all about readiness. Understanding the landscape of an industry and looking at the interdependencies required to solve society’s challenges is the heartbeat of my work. This assignment was particularly intriguing because it was a Christian group using one of my favorite tools, The Enneagram, to better utilize their human capital and I was so excited to serve them.
But I was also in the midst of a deeply sad season in my life. As I sat waiting for the president of the organization to lead a quick devotion to kick off our work day, his “quick devotion” turned into 30 minutes. Every word he uttered could have been a hotline call directly from God’s mouth to my heart. It was brutal. Losing my composure by the second, I started to panic. Flowing tears and minutes before he was due to turn the eager group of communication professionals over to me, I broke.
How am I going to lead these people today?
Why God would you trigger this emotion in me, right now?
Please. Make it stop.
I managed to get those thoughts out and with 45 seconds of furious Kleenex magic, I held my head up and accepted the warm introduction to lead the team on their work day. I looked out at the hopeful faces of anticipation and started. I introduced myself further and laid out our work plan for the day. One of the points in the devotion spoke to the usefulness of broken things and how some things are not all that useful until they are broken.
As we moved from our purpose statement to our team focus activity, my ability to keep my composure left me completely. As tears flowed, I didn’t fight or resist them. I simply let the team know that I, their leader and facilitator for the day, was “at my most broken state in my adult life and based on what we heard from your president, that means we are going to have a phenomenal day of learning and discovery.”
And that’s exactly what happened. One of my best seminars ever in the five-year history of my consulting business happened on a day when my basket was empty.
No fish.
No bread.
Just my bare talents and willingness to be used and to lead even when I didn’t think I could.
That, my friends, is what He is calling us to do, today and every day.
Bring what you have.
Give it up to him.
Watch him work.
Written by Denise Barreto
Denise W. Barreto is the managing partner at Relationships Matter Now, LLC, a strategic business and marketing firm outside Chicago that connects relationships to maximize life and business. www.relationshipsmatternow.com
Global Leadership Network
| theglsn.orgWatch What He Can Do With Nothing
TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
Leading OrganizationsRelationship with GodVisionEverything.
Everything you have.
Imagine with me that day long ago by the Sea of Galilee, the young boy who arrived to hear the message. Surely, he woke up that day the same as we do every day, now. Perhaps it was not a particularly solid plan, but just something on his calendar:
Hear message of the “Miracle Man” by the Sea.
Pack a lunch.
There was nothing special about his lunch either. Two fish and five loaves of bread, plenty for himself.
Upon arrival, seeing the multitudes of people gathered around the man, I can’t imagine this young boy thought anything at all about his personal lunch basket. In fact, I’m sure he simply felt glad he’d come prepared as it may be a long day.
What must have crossed his mind when he was approached by Andrew, who was rushing around in a panic and spotted his food? I’m sure our young friend thought, What could he possibly want from me, as he was ushered quickly to the “Miracle Man’s” side. Gently, the man took his packed lunch and one-by-one, every man, woman and child in sight—well over 5,000— were fed to their satisfaction. Not wanting to waste anything, the man instructed his team to gather the ‘leftovers” and those pieces of fish and bread filled twelve baskets.
Then in an instant it was all clear.
Our young friend is us. Today. Wherever you are.
Everything.
Everything you have.
The talents.
The hurt.
The strengths.
The failures.
The triumphs.
Recently, while leading a group of church leaders on a team retreat to lay out their strategic plan for the coming year, I was shown exactly how God works with everything you have, especially when it’s nothing.
As a strategy consultant to government and nonprofit agencies and corporate learning and development departments, my work is all about readiness. Understanding the landscape of an industry and looking at the interdependencies required to solve society’s challenges is the heartbeat of my work. This assignment was particularly intriguing because it was a Christian group using one of my favorite tools, The Enneagram, to better utilize their human capital and I was so excited to serve them.
But I was also in the midst of a deeply sad season in my life. As I sat waiting for the president of the organization to lead a quick devotion to kick off our work day, his “quick devotion” turned into 30 minutes. Every word he uttered could have been a hotline call directly from God’s mouth to my heart. It was brutal. Losing my composure by the second, I started to panic. Flowing tears and minutes before he was due to turn the eager group of communication professionals over to me, I broke.
How am I going to lead these people today?
Why God would you trigger this emotion in me, right now?
Please. Make it stop.
I managed to get those thoughts out and with 45 seconds of furious Kleenex magic, I held my head up and accepted the warm introduction to lead the team on their work day. I looked out at the hopeful faces of anticipation and started. I introduced myself further and laid out our work plan for the day. One of the points in the devotion spoke to the usefulness of broken things and how some things are not all that useful until they are broken.
As we moved from our purpose statement to our team focus activity, my ability to keep my composure left me completely. As tears flowed, I didn’t fight or resist them. I simply let the team know that I, their leader and facilitator for the day, was “at my most broken state in my adult life and based on what we heard from your president, that means we are going to have a phenomenal day of learning and discovery.”
And that’s exactly what happened. One of my best seminars ever in the five-year history of my consulting business happened on a day when my basket was empty.
No fish.
No bread.
Just my bare talents and willingness to be used and to lead even when I didn’t think I could.
That, my friends, is what He is calling us to do, today and every day.
Bring what you have.
Give it up to him.
Watch him work.
Denise W. Barreto is the managing partner at Relationships Matter Now, LLC, a strategic business and marketing firm outside Chicago that connects relationships to maximize life and business. www.relationshipsmatternow.com
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