I wish I could say that every leader whom I've admired has lived their entire lives with integrity, but that is not the case. In fact, if you were to list the people who have impacted your life, only later to do something that disqualified them or tarnished their reputation, you'd probably have a 50/50 list: about 50% of those who start out as honorable leaders end up as honorable leaders.
My challenge in this series is to remind us all that a leader will run a strong and honorable race if he or she is willing to be accountable both to God and others on a daily basis. Yes, the "key" is to have a daily accountability system with God (time alone and set aside with Him to reveal any hidden places of your heart) and with others (transparent conversations, open email accounts, no hidden candy drawers or secret TV shows:), etc.).
Accountability, as I tell the students I mentor, is a two-way street. It keeps me honest, as well as them. It encourages us to be responsible to a greater cause, a higher standard. And when no one is looking, we can both be sure God is looking...and He's not only looking, but He's cheering for us, counting on us, encouraging us to live above the culture, to make the right choices...one minute, one hour, one day at a time.
Be encouraged,
Becky
Finally got to hear the call; Yeah! First, I want to say thank you to Laura who consistently makes the call.
ReplyDeleteThis week I gave a bridal shower in my home to a lovely young christian woman. She sent me all her bridesmaids to help. I had the privilege of being around christian women who have made Christ their main event in their lives. The gal that I most fell in love with is a missionary in Watts working with intercity families. She said she would be a helper and she was. I get chills thinking of her fighting the LA traffic on a Friday night to get to my house and the job I put her on was washing dishes. It was beautiful to hear her say, I will do anything that is helpful to you. She arrived at my house at 9pm and stayed to 11pm. She said she would be there and she was. I had other bridesmaids who said they would be at the house at 9am and showed up at 11am.
Accountability can mean doing what you say you are going to do. Can others depend on me? To be continued....
Here I am again, my sons tutor needed my help, seems that he wasn't where he said he would be. I used this weeks lesson to talk about accountability and coached the tutor on how to be a leader.
ReplyDeleteAccountability has so many facets. It is praying for someone that you said you would. It is coming clean, being an open book. I have caught myself not being accountable and redirecting a action I needed to take. For example, today one of my kids told me what they wanted for Christmas and my first thought was their Dad would not agree to that, I will just take some money out of my cash account and then he won't know that I spent that much. I kid you not. I love this series it keeps me on my knees and asking God to create in me a clean heart. I will be having a conversation over this with hubby.
My husband is very honest and is a man of integrity. This week he helped my son get some charge off his bank statement. It would have been easy for him to just tell the lady on the phone he was our son and be done with this charge. When I asked him why he didn't do that he said well I am not (our son's name) and it would be lying if I said that I was. So today he got on the computer and figured out how to get this charge off the account and then handed the laptop to our son to press the button that said cancel. I can certainly take lessons from his example.
Thanks again Becky, for another aspect of being a healthy american woman.
Robbie, good food for thought. Can others depend on me to follow through?
ReplyDeleteWell, I make the call because I have Bible study on Wednesday (during the school year)and manage to drive home right on time. This week we are supposed to have lunch afterwards, so I may or may not make the weekly calls this week. I am praying to find another work from home job so I can continue to make these calls and my study, and continue to assist with the local fibromyalgia group.
RE: This week's topic, I need to be more accountable to God, by spending more quality time with Him. By now you would think I would be managing my time better, but I get frantic about having no business, and I panic. Then I spend all day on the computer looking for jobs and ways to get our business seen. I think if I applied Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God....
maybe it would balance out better. So He is my biggest accountability partner........and He needs more of my time.
thanks also to Laura
ReplyDeletethanks to you Robbi
your THOUGHTFUL comments keep me going. I am not much of a LEADER
but we all can work on this area in a small way. thanks again