Humility: True Greatness

Let me begin by quoting scripture, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

One of my favorite books is Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney.  It is one of the best books that specifically addresses one of the sneakiest, most dangerous sins:  PRIDE.  To illustrate my point, the following are some quotes from the book.

• The real issue here is not if pride exists in your heart; it's where pride exists and how pride is being expressed in your life.
• Pride is more than the first of the seven deadly sins; it is itself the essence of all sin.
• God righteously hates all sin, of course, but biblical evidence abounds for the conclusion that there's no sin more offensive to Him than pride.

Why does god HATE pride so much?  C.J. Mahaney states, "Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him."

Now, take a second to evaluate your life, your decisions, and your heart.  As the above states, the question is not if pride exists, but where and how it is being expressed.

Think pride is an issue in your life?  This is how C.J. Mahaney talks with God, "Lord, in that moment, with that attitude and that action, I was contending for supremacy with You.  That's what it was all about.  Forgive me."

In His Image

You were made in the image of the all knowing, all encompassing, awesome God of the universe.  The God that created the land and the sea and the stars in the sky - He created you.  And being created in His image, God said we were, "very good."

Jefferson Bethke, in his book Jesus > Religion states, "The fact that we can create is a sign we are created in his image.  No other creatures have this ability to create.  Sure, some animals can build and work, but they can't create.  They can't make something out of nothing.  I've yet to see a horse write a screenplay for an award-winning movie or a shark paint a sunset on canvas.  Only humans are uniquely wired to create."

So here we are.  Of all of the things that exist in this universe, God chose man to bear His image - and His image is in you.  The God of the universe created you and He knows your name.  Furthermore, He made humans the most incredible of all creation.  So ask yourself the following:

How does being created in His image change the way you look at yourself in the mirror?

How does knowing that you bear some form of God's nature and reflection in you change the way you approach life?



Want to read more about this topic?  I suggest the following books:

Jesus > Religion by Jefferson Bethke

Who Do You Think You Are?: Finding Your True Identity in Christ by Mark Driscoll

Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe by Mark Driscoll

Setting Sail

Antoine De Saint-Exupery, French writer/aviator stated, "If you want to build a boat, do not instruct men to saw wood, stitch the sails, prepare the tools and organize the work, but make them long for setting sail and travel to distant lands."

This is it.  This is my quote.  And it is the reason the title of my blog has changed.  What originally started as a smorgasbord of thought (A Man's Casserole) has now transformed into a collection of purposeful reflection aimed to help YOU, "long for setting sail and travel to distant lands."

So here we are - can you smell the sea, can you see a distant land?  Grab your tools and your dreams and let's set sail!

Reflection = Critical Writing

Reflection is the act of thinking critically and, “writing for the purpose of organizing, clarifying, defending, refuting, analyzing, dissecting, connecting, and/or expanding on ideas or concepts” (Cain & Laird, 2011).  If you look carefully, those verbs appear strikingly similar to the ones found at the highest levels of Bloom’s learning objectives.  Reflection is critical writing and is an important element of authentic literacy.  According to Cain and Laird (2011), “critical writing creates meaning, solidifies connections, transforms subconscious ideas into conscious thoughts, and is essential for authentic literacy.”

Reflection is an important skill in leadership because leaders have the responsibility to model life-long-learning.  The students and the community desire an instructional leader that is a deep thinker and a critical writer.  They want to know that education is not just our job, but is something we are passionately working to improve through the process of reflection.  Paul and Elder explain about those who think critically, “use writing as an important tool both for communicating important ideas and for learning…to deepen their understanding of important concepts and to clarify interrelationships between concepts…they use writing as an important tool for learning ideas deeply and permanently (as cited in Cain & Laird, 2011).

Some of my best reflection is communicated through my blog.  Blogging is my opportunity to be vulnerable and communicate to the world the thoughts and convictions on my heart.  It is my chance to be transparent about my shortcomings and convey my lessons learned throughout my journey.  Reflection can also be a phenomenal tool for private expression as we wade through the difficult waters of life.  Sometimes private reflection can be an opportunity to vent negativity or to formulate the beginnings of a new initiative and/or idea.

When I get the chance to lead a school, I would like to actively use reflection to create a school culture built on authentic literacy.  It doesn’t have to be a multiple page writing exercise, rather critical writing, or the act of reflection, can include creating a simple list, a short comparison paragraph, a quick summary, a mind map, or a written exit ticket.  It is my vision to have instructional staff and/or students post reflections in the comment sections of a specific YouTube video, or maybe a staff members blog, or even the principal’s blog.  Pie in the sky scenario would be leading a book study with teachers and holding a Google hangout once a week to discuss an assigned chapter of the book.  This would be an opportunity to meet with teachers in an informal setting (using technology) to discuss thoughts presented in a specified text.

Dreamer to Finisher

Any clown can read a book and regurgitate summarized thoughts from the text and create campus improvement initiatives.  A great public speaker can present this clown created campus improvement initiative and rally the troops around this idea.  He or she can invoke staff to understand the need for improvement, can clearly communicate the vision for the initiative, and will inspire others to join in this mission.  However, I have found through my experiences with improvement initiatives that it takes a true leader to see an idea through, from the formative stages to its successful completion.

I am an idea guy, I always have been.  I romanticize journeys to success.  I am an eternal optimist.  I will read a book, watch a documentary, or hear someone’s story, and immediately begin to plan to make a change in my personal life and/or my professional life.  The ability to visualize change is a gift.  Additionally, the God given creativity to formulate out-of-the box ideas is an equal blessing. What I am currently developing, and continue to develop, however, is my ability to see an idea to completion.  The true gifted, in my opinion, are the finishers.  How many of us have already broken our New Year’s resolution?  How many of us have set out to eat better, pray more, and be more, and have failed miserably?  I see you raising your hand, me too.  So now dreamers, here we are, let’s take a look at the lessons I’ve learned through my experiences in public schools with campus improvement initiatives.

I will begin assuming the following:

• You have collaborated with others in establishing the vision, mission, and goals (short term and long term) for your idea.
• You have presented your idea in such a way that you have inspired your staff to join you in your initiative (or at least have someone that can do it for you).
• Your idea aligns with your passion.  It’s easy to spot the leaders that are faking it.

Now that you have successfully rolled out your plan, now it is time to see this idea to completion.

1. You must formulate some sort of evaluation tool for your plan.  You must be able to formally and/or informally assess the progress of the success/completion of your plan.  The plan has to be monitored continuously to make sure short term goals are being met.  Remember the success of meeting short term goals fuels long term perseverance.  This generates a culture of achievement and continues to motivate staff that are “on board” with the mission.
2. Don’t be a prisoner to your short term goals/long term goals.  Many of your goals will be fluidly changing throughout the process of seeing your plan to fruition.  One warning though:  don’t make excuses and modify your goals if they sacrifice the integrity of the success/completion of your mission.
3. How will you support the individual efforst that are not meeting expectations?  How do you plan to make adjustments if there is failure?  There must be a safety net in place to keep your eyes on the prize, as it has been said, "Hope for the best, but plan for the worst."

Take a minute to reflect on a dream, idea, or goal in which you have failed to see through to completion.  Think about how you plan on making sure the dreamer in you becomes a finisher.