Leadership Lessons - Turtle on a Fence Post

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From James Dodwell - Hammers of Hope
  

Good Morning,

If you never do anything then how will you know when you’re finished? I heard this said several years ago and I ponder its meaning, often. I think about it this way, “If you never do anything, then you are finished.” After all, you need a beginning to have and end, for every up there is a down, for every go there is a stop, for every no there is a might be a yes, and for every for every hate there must be love to circumvent the negative aspect to provide a positive outcome. Another thought is that being finished doesn’t necessarily equate to being complete. There are some things I want to complete but I am finished long before I reach the point of completion. I am either done with it physically or mentally or I just don’t have the skills to bring it home. What then shall I do?

The answer: “Ask for assistance” from someone who has the skills and abilities to finish or complete the task, because there is no shame in not knowing how to do something, or to ask for help. Although in our world today, it seems to communicate a sign of weakness when we ask for assistance of which, sad to say, most of us harbor these feelings within because we are a product of these modern times. Althea Gibson Darben wrote, “No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helps you.”  Think about it, nothing we have done or accomplished has been us alone. Somewhere along the way, someone has lifted us, offered advice, assistance, laughed with us, cried with us and gently pushed us along to get where we are today.

During one interview, retired General Colin Powell was asked about a picture on the wall behind his desk. It was a picture of a turtle placed on the top of a fence post. He stated, “Every time I look at the picture I understand the turtle had help to get to the top of the post, because turtles don’t climb fence posts.” Leaders understand we can’t do anything alone. Leaders surround themselves with people who have various skills and abilities and teach them to work together; using the strengths of others to off-set their weaknesses.

True leaders use their love for people to connect the talents and abilities of each team member to each other thus forming a strong, unified group of individuals moving and working together toward the same vision and goals. A true leader knows to connect with people they must show them the care for them. Why, because love is the highest motivation for a leader to connect with people. If you don’t love them, don’t try to lead them. For others to follow, they need to see qualities in the leader they feel are lacking in their lives. The spiritual leader offers their followers unconditional love and strong relationship opportunities that build trust and confidence within the individual and ultimately the team.

A spiritual leader assumes responsibility for the health and development of his or her relationships. We do this by getting back to the basics. First, as leaders of people, we must love the Lord and display this love in everything we do. Our conversation, our actions, our reactions all define who we are and what we believe and hold true. As leaders, we must love the truth. Honesty in life, honesty in our walk, honesty in our words is the glue that binds others to us. As leaders, we must love our calling. We can’t lead if we don’t believe in what we do. Our calling, our gift is what motivates us to do what is right and true and is the motivator for others to find their way.

As leaders, we must love the people. People don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. This is so true. Many times we fail in this category of Relationship 101. We tend to think because we show up every day others know how we feel, but people, yes, even us as leaders, need reassurance from time to time by letting others know they are loved and needed. We as leaders need to walk among the people, our followers, talk to them, share our passion for life with them, show a more personal side on occasions, and let them know we care.

I encourage each of us to be the change we want to see in the world. Be the person we would like to be following. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It will make a difference and add value to others and to us. 1 John 2:7-11

Leadership Lessons - Finishing Well ...

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From James Dodwell - Hammers of Hope

Good Morning,

Where does the time go? It has been a hectic, busy week and the days have just flown. I am sure we all experience this type of schedule on occasions. We start something and just when we are getting in a rhythm another issue springs up. It needs our attention just as much, if not more and then something else comes along…before you know it the day is over, the workers helping us have vanished one by one and there we are nursing every second of the day for more but to no avail. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better, there will be more time, and there will be less to do so we can catch up, hopefully. Nope, doesn’t work that way, do it?

In my life, each day starts early. I am best from early morning until about mid-afternoon, it’s just my nature, my biological rhythm, and I prefer it this way. My battery is at fully charged in the mornings after a good nights rest. My mind is clear, my schedule is ready to roll out and I get a fresh start on the new day. I anticipate there will be problems but I am ready and willing to take on the challenges awaiting me out there, somewhere. After my battery wanes by late afternoon, I find this is a good time for reflection, to look back at the day and determine where I miss-managed my time, or made a poor choice or made a good decision, it’s how I learn, grow, stretch to get a little better tomorrow than I was today.

There are no favorites here, morning is good, late afternoons are also good, but if I had to choose one it would be the latter, because, as I said, this is when my growth and maturity is manifesting within me, making me more aware, strengthening me, and forcing me to be intentional with my “real-life circumstance” education. You know learning and absorbing the things you can’t find in a book, such as callused hands, tired muscles, worn out back, sore feet, and a mind reeling from all the opportunities we are exposed to each day that we miss but we had good intentions. The secret is to always view life’s challenges as opportunities to learn, in the now famous words spoken by Lone Watie from the movie, The Outlaw Josie Wales; he proclaimed “Endeavor to Persevere.”

Perseverance is essential to finish well. It’s not where you start it is how you finish. We as leaders should aim to finish well. We need to persevere because confidence will be rewarded; obedience will recognized; shrinking back will be regretted; and Christ’s return will be celebrated.  What we find our life is not a sprint but a marathon. The training for each is different. The sprinter trains in short burst of speed at fixed distances. The first movement off the starting blocks is pushing them to full speed. They can see the finish line end from the starting line and the entire path they will travel, looking down the track, clear of obstacles, a path with border lines to stay between the finish. Seeing and know this most sprinters use up all their energy for the distance they run and many are not able to go much farther.

However, the marathoner trains for long distance; the starting point is miles away from the finish line. They can’t see finish nor is their path is not clearly marked. They train by running greater distances; building endurance, teaching the mind and body to work as one, starting slow, in the pack, pacing themselves so they will have enough at the end to finish strong. They must pace themselves and endure to the end, enabling them to make the invisible finish line.

Our life’s journey is similar to a marathon because it is about faith and vision, about seeing an invisible future. As leaders we live by vision. Our faith allows us to continue to lead the way because of our vision. It gives us power for today and insight for the future. It gives us confidence to remain optimistic because we are determined to make a legacy more than a living. We remain hungry to provide a better life for our decedents. We are gifted resolve to make up our minds to make a difference because our dreams, not out memories consume us.

I encourage each of us to train for a marathon type life. Build endurance, stay focused on the invisible future, remain teachable, sharing our faith, hope, love, and joy as we get a little stronger and better each day. We can make a difference and add value to others around us as we endeavor to persevere. Hebrews 11:1

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Leadership Lessons: Where's the Flea

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By James Dodwell - Hammers of Hope

Good Morning,

Recently, I read about a phenomenon called the “moth effect”. There have been studies stating that drivers may inadvertently steer toward warning lights at night due to an “attentional” preoccupation that affects their ability to maintain direction in which they were previously heading. It goes on to say that people may unconsciously move in the direction of their distracted gaze, whether the object is lit or not and whether they are driving or walking. Sound familiar? In a crazy way it explains why it is so easy to get off our life path when we lose focus on what is right and true. We see it too often, as we “sometime” allow the “eyes of our heart” to look away and then steer our life in another direction.

This reminded me of a story about a distracted driver, Over lunch in a fast-food restaurant, a woman was telling her friend about a recent accident in which a teenage boy had driven into the back of her car as he was distracted when texting. "The young man driving the car blamed me and called me every rude, dirty name in the book!” stated the woman. Inconspicuously seated at the next table two small boys had been listening and one turned to the other and said wide-eyed: "You mean there’s a book?"

I know a silly story to illustrate a point of awareness. The young man driving the car was distracted and unaware he was about to plow into the back of a stopped vehicle, and the woman was unaware of young ears taking in everything she said. This reminded me of the four levels of awareness. As leaders, we need understand leadership has many facets, respect, experience, emotional strength, people skills, disciple, vision, momentum, and so forth and so on. Nearly all these skills can be learned but we must understand growing and stretching our leadership skills doesn’t happen overnight. Thus the levels of awareness:

The first level Unconscious, Incompetence – We don’t know what we don’t know. Everyone starts out in a state of ignorance. For example, when I started working with wood and building construction, I could not read a ruler. The big numbers on the tape were easy, but the little lines between the numbers meant nothing to me. I would count the lines and announce to person running the saw 15 inches and 7 little lines. I did this until someone took the time to explain these were in 1/16” increments and 7 little lines is 7/16^th”. Once we are on the other side of the learning curve we slowly moved along to the second level Conscious, Incompetence – We know what we don’t know. I knew what I didn’t know so now it was just a matter of taking the instruction I was provided by a knowledgeable carpenter mentor, ask questions, study and read, work with it daily gaining experience to improve my skill level.

Once we begin to master this part, we are moving onto the third level Conscious Competence – We know and grow and it starts to show. We find leaders, who show great skill, when opportunities arise, shine only because they have paid the price of preparation. This is when we as leaders become more aware of our abilities and gifts. We are determined to continue developing our skill set until our actions become a habit, an automatic response to circumstances that come our way. We move onto the fourth level Unconscious Competence. We simply go because we know. This is where as stated before, our reactions and actions are based on our experience and knowledge gained as we progress into better more qualified leaders. We execute our leadership plan with greater skill. We see and reward the efforts of others. We remain teachable, we teach others, encourage them guide them and help them to reach their potential all the while keenly aware of our walk or position in this process.

This level of leadership experience allows us to feed our followers, to cast vision, communicate the importance of teamwork, share our faith, show our love unconditionally, celebrate joy, and offer hope. Every effective leader needs time to develop. It’s similar to raising a baby into adulthood, nurturing, teaching, guiding, guarding, filling them with experience and knowledge and opportunity to learn more. But time alone cannot make an effective leader. It takes a willingness to want to learn and to lead. Also, we need to be aware that if we decide not to work at growing and stretching ourselves we will remain at level one. Where’s the fun in that, just saying.

I encourage each of us to do something, anything to challenge us each day to help us continue to grow our skills, stretch our level of awareness and make a difference in other’s lives. It’s all about adding value to us and to others. Genesis 39:21-23

Leadership Lessons: Two Young Tigers

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By James Dodwell - Hammers of Hope

Good Morning,

We have the privilege and pleasure to entertain our two young cousins from out of state this week. They are a pair of young Mizzou Tigers. Oh, and I was informed yesterday, they are also young Auburn Tigers. It’s strange having young children in our home after many years as empty nesters, but as always, it is a learning experience. Our “normal” routine has been beaten to an unrecognizable pulp. Everything changed the minute I retrieved them from the Atlanta airport last Saturday afternoon. The first thing they wanted to know was, did I drive my truck over to pick them up, because they like to nap in the back seat and they did. The next thing is the change in the activity level in our home; it’s off the scale this week. This is followed up with food and drink consumption has increased two-fold, there are no left over’s. It has been a good change for us.

As empty nesters, we have become a little set in our ways. The disciplines practiced in our lives with bedtimes, meal times, work times, certain indoor and outdoor duties, ability to pick up and leave, all experienced a paradigm shift this week. It’s been a few years since I awoke to, “What do you have planned for us to do today?” As I stand there with a confused look on my face, they say, “Can we drive the golf cart?”, “Can we shoot the B-B gun at cans?”, “Can we go swimming?”, can we…, can we… and with the same confused look on my face, I am shaking my head “No”, then I hear myself saying “Yes, absolutely, yes”, to all the above. Why, because this change is a good change and we welcome it.

I read once that with change the battle begins in the mind, meaning, permanent change and improvement always happen from the inside out. In Colossians 3:1 Paul writes, “If then you were raised with Christ; seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” In other words, when a life change brings a new position, we need to get a new perspective. Pretty simple to read and understand, very difficult to follow through, you agree? We all talk about changing something in our lives. For example, I decided it was time for me change my routine and visit the gym at the beginning of each day. I have done really well, but there are those days when I can excuse myself out of going. However, I am determined to make this work, I am determined to break the old habits and replace them with better, healthier habits. It’s a matter of change to become more self-disciplined.

Again, Paul provides us with a prescription for self-discipline. Remember your identity. We must focus first on our position in Christ. It all starts there. Renew your thought life. We must focus our minds on things above. We must raise new internal standards. Recognize your old life is dead. Change doesn’t happen if we maintain any way to return to old patterns. Our mindset is burn the ships so there is no way to return and we have to start a new life. Release past habits. We must put off the old, like taking off worn out shoes. Replace them with new ones. We get rid of old habits only when we substitute new habits for them.

In my life journey to becoming more self-disciplined it is with the understanding that I must travel on the inside before I can travel on the outside. Plato said, “The first and best victory is to conquer self.” We as leaders must follow a disciplined life by first developing and following set priorities. When we determine what’s important in our life, it will be much easier to follow through on what’s important. We must make a discipline lifestyle our goal. Self discipline can’t be a onetime event; it has to become a lifestyle. We have to challenge our excuses. Excuses are just barriers to go around, over, under and through. Eliminate them. We have to remove rewards until we finish the job. No dessert before the meal. We have to stay focused on the results. Count the benefits of doing what is right and then dive in.

I encourage each of us to understand the first person you lead is you, and you can’t lead effectively without self-discipline. It will make a difference and add value to our life and the lives of those around us. Colossians 3:1

Leadership Lessons: Just a Moment in Time

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From James Dodwell - Hammers of Hope

Good Morning,

It is early morning, I am sitting at my desk beginning my day reading and reflecting on the last few days. On a shelf directly in front of me are some old keepsakes passed down through our family. An old Brownie camera sits starting back at me. I can see my tiny reflection in the lens. It gives me pause as I remember posing for my grandfather on an Easter morning in front of a blooming azalea plant, squinting my eyes in the bright sunlight, as he took forever to take our, my siblings and I, picture. It would be weeks before the film would be developed. Then I noticed an old butter mold sitting beside it. I remember watching my great grandmother press butter from freshly churned mike into the mold, letting it harden the pressing it out onto wax paper before putting it in the “icebox” later in the evening.

A pair of eyeglasses, old and bent lay on the shelf above brought back memories of my grandfather wearing them as he read the Bible in the early mornings before departing for work; alongside, an old shaving razor, again used by my grandfather. Old black and white photographs sit precariously on the edges of shelves depicting people in old dress in front of old cars and houses, some are familiar to me others not so much. Then I notice an old worn out Bible, not the one my grandfather used, its owner was my mother. I recall seeing it near her when I was younger, it was as if it had legs, a mind of its own because where she was it was there also. I was slow to ready myself for the day. I was enjoying going back in time, pondering the “what ifs” and the “whys”, but duty calls and I move on leaving the past for another day.

These “things” from my past are meaningful only to me. They are elements of my learning, teaching aids, if you will, that molded me and shaped me to become who I am today. It wasn’t the items from the past that helped me grow and remain teachable but the people who used them. I am part of them, they are part of me, loving, and trusting disciplined individuals who had a vision for me. They encouraged me helped shape my character and integrity. We learn from those who have wisdom and experience that a vision should include a principle for the head and a picture for the heart. We learn that encouragement is vital; you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar.

We learn where there is no hope in the future; there is no power in the present. If you stop learning today, you stop leading tomorrow. We are shown that a vision without core values is like a winding road without guard rails. These leaders taught us to communicate vision by always giving people something to act upon. We come to the understanding that if we don’t remain teachable and learn from our history, we will repeat it. We must continue to learn, stretch and grow ourselves to reach our potential.

Good leaders are continual learners. Our world and people are changing too quickly for us to become stagnate and unwilling to change and mold ourselves into something more. New insights and new opportunities appear all the time and we as good leaders must take advantage of them. We as leaders in our homes, communities, organizations, and places of worship have to understand encouragement is oxygen for the soul. Our walk must offer encouragement to others and be centered on God. Our life’s walk should be intentional, specific, personal, public, detailed, hopeful, and sincere; centered around results only God can provide.

The end result; leaders who encourage always draw more from their people than those who don’t. The portraits painted in my memories from the items parked on the shelves of my office are there because of the encouragement and support from the people in which they belonged, loving, caring leaders of our family who took the time to help me shape my faith, to encourage me, fill me with hope and support my vision and dreams.

Therefore, I encourage all of us to do the same. Share your faith, love hope and joy with those around you. It will make a difference and add value to their lives and ours, as well. Matthew 18:20

Leadership Lessons: Enjoy the Gift

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From James Dodwell - Hammers of Hope
 

Good Morning,

The journal lay opened on my desk as I sat down to begin my day and at the top of the exposed page are the words, “Everyday is a gift from God, enjoy it, use it like it is your last, because once it’s gone all you have are the memories, spend your time wisely.” I don’t remember writing them but they are in my hand. I don’t remember when but this particular journal was started around 2010 when my other journal was filled so it is within the last five and a half years and change. I do remember why, because the words made an impression on me. I have hundreds of torn pieces of paper, napkins, backs of envelopes piled in a box with quotes, paragraphs, thoughts written in haste in a deer stand waiting to be transferred into a journal one day. Even the staff at the dry cleaner I visit save these writings when they find them in my pockets for me to pick up with my freshly laundered pants and shirts. They always smile politely when they return them to me clipped to a business card for a local psychiatrist.

My response to them is always, “You know if I had any feelings they would be hurt, right now.” They laugh; I laugh and then wait until I drive out of their line of sight before I look at the slip of paper to see what is written on it.  Words are powerful. Sharp, cutting remarks to a friend or an associate can end a friendship or relationship, while an encouraging, kind word can create a life-long friendship and relationship. It’s all in our delivery. As leaders, we understand the delivery aspect. Our walk and our actions are guidelines to help others become more than they thought they could become helping them to reach their potential. We find ways to change ourselves so that our change reflects the message we want to deliver, because we know it is much easier to change us than to change others.

It is a partnership of sorts, a bond, a relationship created overtime and molded into a coming together in our thinking, understanding and trust; with trust being the most important piece. This “servanthood” to each other helps us with the understanding to get ahead in life we have to put others first. We develop into a “foot washer” per say. Our leadership should be about service to others rather than accumulating wealth and power for oneself. When we model this leadership quality it help’s others to see the contribution of every man and woman’s gift. It reminds us that God is the true source of every good gift. It promotes goodwill in potential allies. It enables us to better prepare for the future by making good friends in the present. And it develops a nationwide value of mutual benefit and good faith among all the people.

As I stretch and grow myself, maturing as a leader I think I want to become known as:

Thoughtful rather than gifted;

Loving verses quiet and bright;

Gentle over being powerful;

A good listener more than a great communicator;

Available rather than a hard worker;

Sacrificial rather than successful;

Reliable not famous;

Content more than driven;

Self-controlled rather than exciting;

Generous rather than rich and;

Compassionate more than competent; in other words, I want to be a foot washer.

I encourage each of us today to know that God calls every leader to be a servant but not every servant is to be a leader. May we, as leaders, understand we are first a servant of the Lord, than an example, then a proclaimer and communicator of the Good News. May it be our mission to allow this to shine out into the world for others to see as we share our faith, love, hope and joy within to those without. It will make a difference and add value to others. John 13:1-17

Leadership Lessons: Sometimes life is a challenge

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 By James Dodwell - Hammers of Hope
 

Good Morning,

I read once “The value of life is measured by how much of one’s life was given away.” Occasionally, I do ponder if I have done and am doing enough. Doing enough of what, is more the question, because I can do many things, but am I doing the right things to have my” life giving” measured in a way that is proven to be positive, to have been constructive and somewhat successful, or are the things I am doing more of a selfish nature, done for my benefit, without regard to others. Sometimes I think the latter could be true, not really, the former fits better in my toolbox, so this is the path I prefer to follow, trying to live a life filled with faith, hope, love and joy, sometimes it’s a simple task, other times not so much.

There are days when I feel challenged to do what is right, because sometimes the right circumstances make it easy to just walk away and not look back. However, somewhere within is a need, a yearning to reach out, do what is right, offer a helping hand, a kind word of encouragement, a little sage advice, or a lift up. Sometimes we pay a heavy price, getting involved, we think we can just step in, mediate the issue away and all will be good. But we get caught in the whirlwind created by the issue and we have to work our way out. Other times it is a simple repair, a little help, a push to get it moving in the right direction, then a quick check up just to insure the issue has been put to bed for good. We don’t even get our hands dirty. Either way, we do this because we as leaders have set pre-determined values and principles to dictate our actions when certain events in our lives create an opportunity to fight or flee.

David tells us in Psalm 15:1-2 a righteous man who walks in integrity and gains not only respect of others, but also an audience with God. These few words demonstrate to us as leaders why pre-determined values and ethics, not expediency, must drive our leadership. To become a leader who displays the qualities we must first possess integrity. We must do what is right. We must be honest and trustworthy. We must not gossip. We must not listen to gossip. Do no harm to others and speak out against wrong.

We have to honor others who walk in truth. We should always keep our word, our promise even when it cost us to fulfill the words or promise. We shouldn’t be greedy to gain at the expense of others. We shouldn’t take bribes against anyone. We must always be strong and stable. We are in a position in life to add value to people and do for others what they cannot do for themselves. So all we can do is offer our very best. The other part to pre-determined values and principles is the leaders who have a lasting legacy are not the ones who react to their culture. They base their leadership on timeless and universal values and principles gifted to us through His word.

These values and principles are a guide. They help us stay on the right path. They are a guard. They keep our hearts, mind and bodies protected. They are a gauge. The enable us to evaluate where we are so we can make the adjustments needed to continue on path. These values and principles practiced daily by us build our character, direct our decisions, and correct our lifestyles. As I said before, some days I feel challenged to do what is right. Some days it would be much easier to go with the flow and just mindlessly allow the world to control my heart and mind. I am reminded of being in a large airport and hundreds of people walking to and from the gates. There seems to always be one person walking toward a gate against the crowd of people walking from the gate.

In my life, I want to be that person, determined to move forward in the right direction based on good values and principles, no matter how much opposition I meet along the way. Leaning into life, focused, with a little baggage, but knowing where I need to be and resisting the temptation of a few hundred people moving in the opposite direction to alter my values and principles.

I encourage each of us each day to follow our pre-determined values and principles set for us through the study of His word. Our life example and our decisions can help mold the young minds of our children and others around us by providing a good influence in their life for their future endeavors and challenges. It will make a difference and add value. Psalm 15:1-2

Leadership Lessons: Moth Effect

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From James Dodwell - Hammers of Hope

Good Morning,

Recently, I read about a phenomenon called the “moth effect”. There have been studies stating that drivers may inadvertently steer toward warning lights at night due to an “attentional” preoccupation that affects their ability to maintain direction in which they were previously heading. It goes on to say that people may unconsciously move in the direction of their distracted gaze, whether the object is lit or not and whether they are driving or walking. Sound familiar? In a crazy way it explains why it is so easy to get off our life path when we lose focus on what is right and true. We see it too often, as we “sometime” allow the “eyes of our heart” to look away and then steer our life in another direction.

This reminded me of a story about a distracted driver, Over lunch in a fast-food restaurant, a woman was telling her friend about a recent accident in which a teenage boy had driven into the back of her car as he was distracted when texting. "The young man driving the car blamed me and called me every rude, dirty name in the book!” stated the woman. Inconspicuously seated at the next table two small boys had been listening and one turned to the other and said wide-eyed: "You mean there’s a book?"

I know a silly story to illustrate a point of awareness. The young man driving the car was distracted and unaware he was about to plow into the back of a stopped vehicle, and the woman was unaware of young ears taking in everything she said. This reminded me of the four levels of awareness. As leaders, we need understand leadership has many facets, respect, experience, emotional strength, people skills, disciple, vision, momentum, and so forth and so on. Nearly all these skills can be learned but we must understand growing and stretching our leadership skills doesn’t happen overnight. Thus the levels of awareness:

The first level Unconscious, Incompetence – We don’t know what we don’t know. Everyone starts out in a state of ignorance. For example, when I started working with wood and building construction, I could not read a ruler. The big numbers on the tape were easy, but the little lines between the numbers meant nothing to me. I would count the lines and announce to person running the saw 15 inches and 7 little lines. I did this until someone took the time to explain these were in 1/16” increments and 7 little lines is 7/16^th”. Once we are on the other side of the learning curve we slowly moved along to the second level Conscious, Incompetence – We know what we don’t know. I knew what I didn’t know so now it was just a matter of taking the instruction I was provided by a knowledgeable carpenter mentor, ask questions, study and read, work with it daily gaining experience to improve my skill level.

Once we begin to master this part, we are moving onto the third level Conscious Competence – We know and grow and it starts to show. We find leaders, who show great skill, when opportunities arise, shine only because they have paid the price of preparation. This is when we as leaders become more aware of our abilities and gifts. We are determined to continue developing our skill set until our actions become a habit, an automatic response to circumstances that come our way. We move onto the fourth level Unconscious Competence. We simply go because we know. This is where as stated before, our reactions and actions are based on our experience and knowledge gained as we progress into better more qualified leaders. We execute our leadership plan with greater skill. We see and reward the efforts of others. We remain teachable, we teach others, encourage them guide them and help them to reach their potential all the while keenly aware of our walk or position in this process.

This level of leadership experience allows us to feed our followers, to cast vision, communicate the importance of teamwork, share our faith, show our love unconditionally, celebrate joy, and offer hope. Every effective leader needs time to develop. It’s similar to raising a baby into adulthood, nurturing, teaching, guiding, guarding, filling them with experience and knowledge and opportunity to learn more. But time alone cannot make an effective leader. It takes a willingness to want to learn and to lead. Also, we need to be aware that if we decide not to work at growing and stretching ourselves we will remain at level one. Where’s the fun in that, just saying.

I encourage each of us to do something, anything to challenge us each day to help us continue to grow our skills, stretch our level of awareness and make a difference in other’s lives. It’s all about adding value to us and to others. Genesis 39:21-23

Leadership Lessons: What is it You do..?

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What is it you do...
By James Dodwell, Hammers of Hope

Good Morning,

The butler was asked by his employer, “Jules, how long have you been with me?” The butler answered, “Sir, it’s been almost 30 years now, I believe.” The employer sat thoughtfully for a moment before he responded, “Jules, what it is you do for me?” The butler quickly responded, “Well sir, I was hired to take care of the dog.” The employer questioned, “ The dog?, why Jules the dog has been dead almost twenty years.” The butler said, “Yes sir, that is correct, what would you like for me to do now?”

The question posed to me several times a week is, “What are you doing these days?”  In other words, who are you now, since you are doing something different in your life? The odd thing is I really don’t have a good answer, so I change the subject, fast! At one time in my life, my being was defined by my career path. I was so and so and I work at so and so and I am in charge of so and so. I think all of us have experienced this at one time or another. Who we are is what we do, correct? I don’t agree, but what defines who we are? Is it our attitude? Is it our willingness to serve and be of service? Are we in the good ole boy club and one of the good ole boys? Do we care only about ourselves? Is our name in the dictionary prior to a dash followed by hyphenated adverbs, adjectives, verbs and nouns describing us as a person of success or failure?

Of course not, I believe who we are is defined by where we are in our walk and what we become by taking advantage of positive life experiences, numerous opportunities and continuing to remain teachable as we learn to evaluate the value offered us through life lessons that keep us stretching and growing in the journey to reach or full potential. In other words, we can do anything we want to do, go anywhere we want to go, and be whatever we want to become, within reason and if we have the right skills. There are certain things I know I can’t do, but there are other things I do well. I focus on the things I do well and ask for assistance with the things I can’t do well. But it hasn’t always been that way, it’s something we learn when we take the time to evaluate our experiences.

In my opinion, finding, who we are starts with empowerment.  Jesus empowered His disciples by telling them they would do greater things than He had done. He did this by sending the Holy Spirit to live in each of them. He did this by giving of Himself to equip them. He did this by preparing them to reproduce their leadership in the lives of others. The fact is that only secure leaders give their power to others. So how do we as leaders empower others? There is an acronym I have seen used to describe how this process works, “IDEA.”

Instruction – A leader verbally teaches his/her followers. They constantly use daily routines to instruct the leadership principles and ways by being the example. Visually and verbally communicating his/her message over and over until it becomes a habit.

Demonstration – Modeling the truth and allowing others to observe our lives. It is a show and tell type of teaching that is more effective than words, after all doesn’t it hold true that our actions speak louder than our words, most of the time?

Experience – A leader allows others to participate and apply the lessons learned themselves. It is practice for the future leaders. Watch me while I do it, I will stand alongside while you do it, you do it alone, you teach someone else to do it.

Assessment – A leader will debrief the shared experience. He or she will assess the growth they see in others and give them direction to help them continue to improve. They do this by offering feedback, helping to benchmark their progress, encouraging them, lifting them up, emphasizing the positive aspects of their growth and then rewarding them with more responsibility.

I encourage each of us today to consider who our followers are, consider who we are to them. We are mentors, through our walk and daily actions and reactions to things in our lives. Consider how our children watch and learn from us. Are our lives teaching them the values we want them to learn? The answer should be a resounding, YES, so you are making a difference in their lives and the lives of others. John 14:12-14

Leadership Lessons: The Value of Quietness

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The value of quietness
By James Dodwell – Hammers of Hope  

Good Morning,

Most of my days begin with a rush, rushing to get dress, hurriedly touching base with my wife for the evening schedule of events, rushing to work, scanning email after email, ranking them by importance to follow-up later and when I finally look up its late afternoon. The hustle and bustle noise created in the day is no longer audible then I realize the others occupying the same office space have left for the day. I am unsure when, but I do have some memory of “I’ll see you tomorrow, have a nice evening” being spoken in my direction sometime in the day, possibly only a few minutes ago or maybe hours ago, I don’t recall exactly. However, here I am left to my “work”, alone, not necessarily a bad thing.

A few days ago a good friend highlighted a quote in an email he sent to me and yes reading the email was ranked “up there” in the importance category, it says, “What a lovely surprise to finally discover how un-lonely being alone can be.” -Ellen Burstyn. The true meaning of the statement didn’t sink in right away. As I sat in my “aloneness” I began to realize the value of quietness, of being still, just thinking through the day’s activities and plans for the evening. I reflected on the prior evening with my wife sitting on the tail gate of my truck as we spoke in serious, low voices about events happening around us and in our lives, some in control some not so much in control. I thought about how little we actually talk and really listen to each other. We talk at each other while we are readying ourselves for work or preparing a meal, but we rarely take the time to really listen to each other. We are generally alone with each other, again not necessarily a bad thing.

As leaders, we must take some time to be alone. We must take the time to reflect on our experiences, search within for the lessons learned, and lean-in to our solitude to help us recharge and refresh our minds and spirits. As leaders, we have a bias to action and sometimes find ourselves so busy multitasking we don’t feel we can take the time to learn something new to create new avenues for growth. In our minds, We are the growth, just do as I do but the reality is we are just going, going, going to here, to there, reaching this plateau, maintaining the small area within the eighteen inch space we are allowed to occupy. We begin to lose the value of quietness, the value of being alone until we pause at the end of the day, take a breath and finally realize just how un-lonely being alone can be and just how important it is for us to make it a priority every day.

I am not advocating we become hermits and go live in a cave, but what we need to do is find the right pace or cadence for our life. Once upon a time, I would leave work each day and run 6 to 8 miles each afternoon. During the run I had to find my pace, too slow I would lose my cadence or rhythm to maintain my time per mile, too fast I would wear myself out long before I completed my loop. My pace needed to be somewhere in the middle of too slow and too fast for me to meet my time goal for the distance. It’s the same with our careers and personal lives. If we fix our eyes on the past we risk colliding with the future. If we see only the future we will crash into the hurdles of present.  If we don’t take the time to reflect and recharge our spirit, minds and bodies we run the risk of burnout and fail to succeed.

We as leaders are the watchmen for others and ourselves. We are always looking ahead, watching, anticipating approaching disaster. It is our job; however we need to watch out for ourselves in the process. Not selfishly, but protectively taking care of our physical and mental health because we have the awesome responsibility of leadership and what better way to lead than by example.  Our faith offers us security through the promise of God’s presence in our lives letting us know it doesn’t have to be lonely at the top. It’s through God’s protection as we take risks and initiative He keeps us safe. It’s through God’s peace allowing us to not feel insecure in unknown territories. It’s through God’s perspective as He presents us with an eternal view of life that keeps us steady and on course.

It’s through God’s provision that regardless of our needs, He meets them if we ask in His name. And it’s through God’s power knowing even through experiencing adversity, hurdles, and unplanned events; He always delivers and helps us meet our goals. In Psalms 46:10 it is written, “Be still and know that I am God…” In the many translations the word peace is shown as stop your fighting, stop your striving, cease, let go and return, all translations assuring us even when we are alone He is there with us. “What a lovely surprise to finally discover how un-lonely being alone can be.” -Ellen Burstyn

I encourage each of us to find time to be still, find peace, reflect, rebuild you inner compass, and make sure the needle is set to true north. It will make a difference in your life and the lives of others. Psalms 46:10

Leadership Lessons: Sorry, I wasn't Paying Attention

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Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention
By James Dodwell – Hammers of Hope  

 Good Morning,

I want to apologize up front for not keeping everyone updated. I was thinking about it recently and was going to say something a few days ago but it completely slipped my mind. I just forgot, it happens as we get older, we start to say something, then a bird flies by the window, we get distracted, our conversation ebbs then the subject gets changed and we find ourselves just rambling on and on about nothing. Kind of like now, but I am doing it to make a point, or am I? What I want to tell you is there are only 198 shopping days left until Christmas. There now, aren’t you glad you know that little tid-bit of information so you can get your shopping started? Sure you are.

I don’t like to admit it but my mind wanders on occasions when I should be listening to a person discussing an issue, telling me about something important to them or just catching up on what has been happening in their lives. Usually, I am sitting quietly facing them, nodding or shaking my head in agreement or disagreement as the person speaks so the person will think I am paying attention. When in reality my mind is blank canvas and their words fall on deaf ears. It is not very polite or professional; we should always take time to listen intently when others respect us enough to share something important to them or come to us for advice.

When others come to us to have a conversation, they view us as a mentor, a leader, a problem-solver, a confidant and friend. It is our responsibility to show respect and honor for these “titles” placed upon us by them. We are not gifted these “titles”, we earn them with our actions and reactions to events experienced in our life and we communicate these in our daily walk through our encouraging words, our helping hands, our character, our integrity, all rolled into a caring individual with knowledge and wisdom to pour into the lives of others. We as leaders are reminded the gift to be able to offer others hope and assist them with their walk is a privilege that should not be taken lightly and should always, always be used to teach and educate, not ridicule or criticize. 

Relationships and leadership are married together and cannot be divorced. We as leaders must learn to relate to people based on a decision, not a reaction. Ultimately, we must love people regardless of what they can give in return. We as leaders must not treat a rich person better than a poor person. Love must be given unconditionally. This isn’t saying we must treat everyone the same, what it is saying is that we must relate to each individual based on his or her inward gifts, not outward gifts. We as leaders must identify talents and gifts in others, and then place the individuals in a position to encourage them to use their gifts in order to reach their potential.

If a leader has an issue with loving people and reaching people then that leader has to learn to love them based on an unconditional decision. Look toward the positive aspects of the individual, learn to accept where they are in life and lean into them as you pour into their life. When it comes to filling positions and find someone for certain tasks, place them according to their giftedness. A person’s life passion may not be their gift, it is their passion. Look for the thing they do without much effort, the thing they can’t stand by and watch while it is being done or something they are the first to volunteer to tackle. This is their area of giftedness and strength.

We as leaders must provide recognition to others. We must recognize everyone’s value and contribution. We must communicate it publically not in a bragging way but in a way that honors them and what they do. We as leaders must provide affirmation. This needs to be done based on the needs of the individual. Some people need affirmation others don’t but everyone likes to know you care. It goes along with the saying, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

I encourage all of us today to be a mentor, leader, and teacher for others with our walk and our talk. We must understand that to connect with others hearts we must use our ears. Good leaders motivate others by their listening skills and then acting on what they hear. It will make a difference and add value to others and to us. James 2:1-9

Leadership Lessons: Some Truth, but Not Complete

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Some truth, but not complete
By James Dodwell - Hammers of Hope

 Good Morning,

In NASCAR it’s called “Silly” season, when rumors of drivers leaving one racing team for another, or shop talk escalates about a driver being “let go” swirls around the circuit and eventually makes the news. Some of the “rumors” are true but a rather large percentage of them are not so true. Sometimes the teams “cook up” these stories just to draw a little more attention and support to the driver or their sponsor. It is a known fact, that the more something gets repeated the more people believe it to be true. It becomes the de facto truth, in other words, not quite the whole story but not really un-true, either.

Several years ago, when rumors were rampant in our city about changes to organizations, jobs, people’s lives it became a very stressful time in our community and created a lingering effect on the city’s leaders and its residents. Again, some of them held truth, a truth so devastating it was difficult to understand how anyone could spin such a yarn about downsizing the largest textile employer in the area, no pun intended. However, the truth was revealed and now is even more visible with the removal of the buildings that once were filled with employees making a living for their families. The truth is more telling in the frustration of the city’s residents as they watch a city government devourer each other in public meetings and attack each other on a personal level instead of working together to rebuild a great community.

The recent happenings publicized in the media remind us that if our ethics are not borne out of our convictions, they may shift and change with the tide of the culture or with what is convenient for us. When ethics are formed out of spiritual convictions, they are unchanging. When the latter is the process we have a standard that is transcendent beyond our personal preference. The strongest ethics come out of us as, First -Generosity. This is when we reach the point that our ethics must revolve around giving ourselves away, such as, serving others in our community, in our walk, in our personal and professional life, and so on a so forth.

Second is Justice, with this our ethics revolve around justice for all, not some self-serving desire that betters us rather than benefiting the multitudes. Third is Excellence, this by allowing our ethics to revolve around setting a standard above average. As leaders, in the community, our homes and our places of worship we have to maintain an excellence in our lives that sets the standard for others who are watching and learning from us. Think of our children, our future leaders and what message are we sending them? Where do they draw the line when they become our leaders? Get all you can from others or do all you can for others?

Fourth is Service. As was just mentioned this is where our ethics must revolve around adding value to other people and making a positive difference in their lives. A positive difference, a positive difference, a positive difference, I say this three times just as Dorothy did in the Wizard of Oz when she said, “There’s no place like home, There’s no place like home, THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!” You get it? This is our home, our people, we have a responsibility to all those who labored and came before us and if we don’t do everything we can to make a positive difference we are doing our community a disservice.

Last but not least is Convictions. Our ethics must revolve around a firm inward compass. Ethics result from this inward compass. A conviction is a strong belief that so governs our decisions that we are willing to die for it. History is full of leaders who changed the world because of their convictions. I ask you, where are those leaders today? Believe it or not they walk among us, work beside us, they are our neighbors and friends. Encourage them to get involved, if you know them. Support them, pray for them, and be of service to them as we, together, make this community and our country great again. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Leadership Lessons: Lessons from a Comic Strip

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Lessons from a comic strip
By James Dodwell – Hammers of Hope

Good Morning,

I am a comic strip reader. I buy a Sunday paper just for the comics. Why? Well, it’s the only thing in the paper these days that makes any sense to me. The funny strips are my preference. The political and soap opera story strips are my least favorite. Who cares, right? Recently, I saw one with two cavemen, one was a salesman the other the customer. The cave-salesman was attempting to sale a wheel made of stone and word bubble from the caveman-customer said, “Sorry, but that’s not how I roll.” I know, it isn’t very funny but it reminded me of a cool, spring morning turkey hunt with a very good friend and the fine young man he has for a son.

We arrived early to get in place well before daybreak. Just as the sun began to show color we noticed a turkey in a tree just a few yards away and it was a gobbler. We made some alluring hen chatter and within a few minutes there were five gobblers in the field just within shotgun range. It was youth season so neither his dad nor I had a shotgun, only the young man was legal to shoot. I was excited for him, five birds within shooting range, all he had to do was take his pick and shoot. Now mind you, these birds were young birds and the beards were not as prominent as an older bird but they were legal and ready for the grill or frying pan.

Thirty minutes later, the birds walked out of the field, no shots fired. Once they were gone, I said boy you had five birds out there within range why didn’t you shoot. He said, “Mr. James those were young birds and that’s not how we roll, is it dad?” Enough said. So where does the comic strip fit in, it reminded me of the wonderful time we had on that cool, spring morning watching the sun’s rays paint the sky brilliant orange and yellow, listening to the morning wake up with all the nature noises it brings along as it dawns and having true sportsmanship taught to an old sportsman by a young whipper-snapper sportsman and the old sportsman liked it and respected the young man’s position on the matter.

Sometimes, we need to be reminded there is a certain order in life, sort of a crawl, walk, run approach. More often than not, I want to skip the crawl, walk and go right to run, but it doesn’t always work that way. The better approach is to grow through all the steps and keep growing once we think we’ve learned enough. John Wooden said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” It was true on that cool, spring morning, and it was true today with something that happened for me, not to me because I am really grateful for a lesson learned today and am glad I had remembered to remain teachable.

Jesus taught crawl, walk, run. He had the power to load the minds of His followers but He didn’t. He taught through parables, relational stories, in a subtle manner so as not to overwhelm them with information. Each parable related to a lesson He wanted them to understand.  This allowed His followers to absorb the lesson, practice what they had been taught then go out and use the information or skills to teach others.  In other words, He planted the seed, cared for it as it grew then once it blossomed in the follower they were able to share in its beauty with others. Crawl, walk, run, old sportsman being taught by the young sportsman, sharing knowledge, experience, life lesson, and so on and so forth, amazingly wonderful.

Our faith, our love, our hope and our joy are similar to parable teaching because each of these virtues is a gift to us through a story. We remember when we first experienced love, there is a story behind it, remember when joy was experienced, a story follows, remember having hope, a story follows, do you remember when you realized faith was the real deal and you shared the experience someone? I encourage us to remember, No running first, let us crawl, walk then run into life always stretching, always growing always sharing, caring to make a difference and add value to others.  Matthew 13:10-13

Leadership Lessons: Just How Good of a Salesperson are You?

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Just how good of a salesperson are you?
By James Dodwell - Hammers of Hope

 Good Morning,

The school year is nearing closing for the 2015/16 season. This is a wonderful time for children to be set free to play and relax for a few weeks while their parents worry about what they are doing during the day at home, alone. One good thing about our children being in school, we know where they are for those few hours each day and that hopefully, they are doing something productive, hopefully. The thing I use to dread was the start of the school year and all the neighborhood children turn into mini salespersons. You know the drill, funds raisers for this and that, but each and every one of them that ring our door bell has a sure sell. There are three reasons I don’t refuse them, one, they are on an important mission, in their minds, which is important for us adults to support, two, who can refuse those precious little smiling faces, politely saying yes-sir and yes-mam while wrapping you around their finger getting what they want, and three, it’s payback to all the other parents in the neighborhood who supported our son during those years.

“When will the madness end?” I ask myself. We have bought cases of expensive water, jump rope jumps, cookie dough, cow patty bingo event tickets, which I have never witnessed, and never will, band calendars, Boston butts, wrapping paper, chances on large amounts of money, bar-b-que dinners, chicken mostly, and numerous other things to support our neighborhood children and schools. I really don’t expect the madness to end; I actually hope it never does, because it provides a moment in their lives to brighten their day with the sell and a moment in our lives to feel we have done something worth-while.  Writing this reminds me of a story I heard about the world’s greatest salesman:

A man walks into an insurance office and asks for a job.  "Sorry, we don't need anyone..." they replied, "You can't afford not to hire me. I can sell anyone anything anytime!"  "Well, we have two prospects that no one has been able to sell. If you can sell just one, then you have a job." He was gone about two hours and returned and handed them two checks, one for $25,000 and another for $50,000. "How in the world did you do that?" they asked. "I told you I'm the world’s best salesman; I can sell anyone anything, anytime!" "Did you get a urine sample?" they asked him. "What's that?" he asked. "Well, if you sell a policy over $20,000 the company requires a urine sample. Now take these two bottles and go back and get urine samples." He was gone about 8 hours and the office was about to close, when in he walks in with two five gallon buckets, one in each hand. He sets the buckets down and reaches in his shirt pocket and produces two bottles of urine and sets them on the desk and says, "Here's Mr. Jones’s and this one is Mrs. Johnson's."  "That's good," they said, "but what's in those two buckets?"  "Well, I passed by the school house and they were having a state teachers convention - so I stopped and sold them a group policy!"

If you think about it, we are all salespeople. Each day we have to reprove ourselves to someone new. These new people know very little about us. They see the outside, dressed nice, looking sharp, but they can’t see the inside which could be something entirely different. Our walk, our words and our actions either reveal our inner most being as a positive, bright, well dressed person matching our exterior or a negative, dull, poorly dressed person completely the reverse of the persona we are emanating on the outside. Which persona is more attractive, more magnetic, and most likely the one who will make the buyer want to listen to our sales pitch?

The disciples, if you think about it, were a group of misfits, fishermen, lawyers, tax collectors… no one trusted or looked up too, but Jesus saw something in them and lead them out of the negative, dull, poorly dressed existence they had within. He changed them, moved them into a new realm of words and actions. They became lovers of people, sharing His message of faith, hope, joy and love. They became risk takers, risking their lives to spread the gospel and the truth, sharing the Good News with everyone. They became tireless workers, laborers for Jesus, praying unceasingly for the people to know God and to share in His blessing of eternal life. They became servant leaders, ministers, messengers, doing the work that no one else would by being of service to others; a “salesperson” sharing the Good News, if you will allow the play on words.

I encourage all of us to become the best “salesperson” we can become as we serve others, lift others up, and offer our life as an example of a brother, sister, fellow worker, fellow soldier, messenger and minister. It will not only show we have faith, hope, joy and love for others; it will make a difference in our life and the lives of others. Philippians 2:25-30

Leadership Lessons: It's What Wasn't Said

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It’s what wasn’t said.
By James Dodwell – Hammers of Hope

Good Morning,
It’s been several years now, but a friend asked me to take his son hunting for squirrels, so I did. His son was young and energetic, so for the first few hours we didn’t see any squirrels or other wildlife. I finally convinced him to settle down and sit quietly next to the base of a large tree. As the noise subsided and the stillness began to settle around us, the animals began to appear on the fringes of where we were sitting. In the silence and stillness, the birds began reappearing, then the squirrels started some movement toward the ground from their nests in the tops of the trees, and we even saw deer and turkey.

My little friend began to understand when you are physically and mentally still and allow the noise of the world to subside; as we sit quietly anticipating, wonderful things begin to appear before us. When we listen, really listen to the under lying message mixed within the noise of the world we find the meaning of life. We hear the desires of our heart; we listen closely to the messages placed in our subconscious that are missed when we are overwhelmed and intoxicated with the voices and noise of the world its then we realize we are gifted with an ability to control the noise or inputs, if we are willing.

This memory reappeared in my mind recently because life has gotten so busy, again. We allow ourselves to take on too much, because we feel cheated if we are not exhausted and stressed at the end of the day. It doesn’t need to be that way. It’s okay to relax and take some time for yourself. Yes, really. This is ironic, because I haven’t always felt this way. I once thought, if I wasn’t at the end of my rope, unable to sleep through the night, constantly reviewing and studying every little detail of a drawing or project, I wasn’t moving forward. But that’s not true. It’s okay not to know everything. It’s okay not to always be in control. It’s okay to say I can’t do it, to say no, to say I don’t know how, to ask for help.

Sounds like a crazy man talking, doesn’t it? Let me elaborate, if you have a minute. Recently, a friend that is sick called me to talk. I met him one afternoon, thinking he was wanting, some advice about a project, simple right? However, his struggle with the illness has whittled away at his once positive attitude, and chipped away at his desire and love of life, so one of the strongest people I know and respect, wanted to ask me to be first call support for him because he had lost hope and in reality was considering, well you know, leaving this world, sooner than expected.

As we sat quietly, allowing the noise of the world to subside, quietly anticipating a response, wonderful things began to appear before us. Images of our families and friends, his importance to his friends and family, his responsibility to his walk and how others with the same struggles are viewing his response to his life’s challenges, and the fact that he is loved and needed and the importance his life holds to others, especially his family. As Jesus as my witness, the more we talked about his contribution to others, the more well, he became. I tell you as a witness, he walked out of that place a man on a mission, nothing was going to stop him, and no illness was going to conquer him. And I didn’t say a word; and all I did was listen.

I encourage us to be still and listen. I heard it said, “Don’t let what you want to say get in the way of what others need to hear.” I love this statement; However, I want to add, “Don’t say what you think others need to hear; when all you need to do is listen.” 1 Corinthians 10:23-24

Leadership Lessons: Go to the Ant

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Go to the Ant.
By James Dodwell – Hammers of Hope  

Good Morning,

A good friend asked me if I could meet him at the cabinet shop to cut a couple of boards for him. The angle needed on the ends would need to be cut with a miter saw to get the specific fit he was wanting on a hand rail he was reconstructing. While I waited on him to arrive I notice a colony of ants had invaded our work area. Rather than stomp them like a child, I sat and watched them. I know, I know, but at that moment it was what I did, okay? Anyway, I noticed that each ant greeted any other ant traveling in the opposite direction, just for a millisecond but not one passed another without acknowledgment. As I continued on my education in the ant world, I noticed if there was an obstacle in the defined path, the ants went over, around or under it, without any hesitation.

As my eyes followed the line of ants I saw a small area where a tunnel was carved out under some debris and a small circle similar to a cloverleaf on an interstate highway had been constructed. At this point is where some of the ants seemed to receive instructions, because there was a slight bottleneck, a conjugation of ants slowing a little, getting their directions from somewhere unknown to me, then either moving ahead or taking one of the other two routes to who knows where. It appeared, each ant was on a mission, they had been given a direction, a purpose, a goal and they were focused with a bias toward action, working together as a team, getting where they need to be and letting nothing stand in the way. The strange thing is that each of them took the time to greet and acknowledge the others no matter how busy they were at the time. This was really amazing stuff, for me anyway.

In Proverbs 6:6 it is written, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; and consider its ways and be wise.” Go to the ant… He tells us to be self-motivated for our own good and the good of others. Ants don’t need an overseer to instruct them on what needs to be done. They instinctively wake up early and get started putting away stores of food for other times. They are clearing the way for others to follow and become fruitful. They are setting the example for others to follow; each one accomplishing something that will benefit the entire team not just them. As we mature as leaders, we teach our followers similar traits. Take responsibility, do the work, work and play well with others, work as a team, acknowledge others, help each other, and so on and so forth. 

Ants seem to display an abundance mindset. They share everything. There is enough to go around and they want each ant in the colony to have a piece of the pie, so to speak. Sometimes, we as humans display a scarcity mindset, meaning there is only enough for me. We don’t want to share information, success, ideas, our time, or other things that could benefit others lives. We typically do this because we are competitive in nature, everything is a competition and there can be only one winner. The ants teach us having a mindset focused on abundance/team, everyone wins, and having a mindset focused on scarcity/self, nobody wins.

Ants teach us the value of hard work. They earn their wages. Their work sustains them; it doesn’t define who they are. They work hard at harvest time storing up food and they are rewarded with their efforts when times are lean. Welfare is not an option in the ant world. If you are able, you work just like all the others. The only exception is their young, injured and weak are cared for by a selected group to service their needs. We should look to the ant and understand working hard will bless our lives both physically and spiritually. The thing that gave me pause is they are as one. They follow rules handed down generation after generation. They don’t have to be told what to do. It is in their DNA to know the way, show the way and go the way and they never deviate from the abundance mindset. I don’t know if insects have unconditional love for one another but it is obvious to me they support each other; trust each other to do their part all while making a difference and adding value to the colony.

Another observation is that no one ant is better than the other. Some have different duties; others different responsibilities; others different gifts and talent, and yes, even the queen works and has a responsibility to the entire colony. It’s a way of life. Their work, “their walk” reflects their principles and values and is passed along generation after generation. I encourage all of us to “Go to the ant…” for inspiration to develop an abundance mindset for sharing our love, hope, faith and joy while we make a difference and add value in the lives of those surrounding us. Proverbs 30:25