By: Jer
One of the main components of the Arrow Leadership program is to create a leadership plan. As part of my plan, I have decided to commit myself to the discipline of writing weekly. If you haven’t noticed by now, any kind of planning, structure, or discipline does not come naturally for me. It literally says, “may fail to follow any sort of plan,” in one of my assessments. Even now, as I am writing this, it’s taken me a long time to get started and has been more difficult than I thought it would be. So, why did I decide to do this? Why am I forcing myself into some kind of structure?
In my discussion with the Arrow psychologist, one of the themes that came out was this idea of playing it safe. My natural inclination is to set goals that I know I can succeed at. Although these goals may appear reasonable because I have learned different skill sets, there’s no real element of risk or failure. In many ways, it would be easy for me to continue to coast. I could easily make the appearance of living a good life without taking many risks. For me, writing regularly could expose me in ways that I am not prepared for. I might get judged in ways that could really influence how I think or feel. Yet, I am reminded of what God said to me at Residential 1, “Don’t just run, trust me and fly.”
One of the convictions that I have had is “connecting churches to communities.” For me, this has meant bringing awareness to churches of the people and situations that I see everyday. I hope to shine a light on the lives of the marginalized and the oppressed in a way that we cannot simply ignore. Given the experiences God has called me to, I feel as though this is a unique calling He has blessed me with.
However, doing this kind of work requires practice. As much as I want it to happen all at once and be at the destination, it doesn’t. I have to practice. I have to commit to a discipline of doing this regularly. I have to (gasp!) make mistakes and struggle. There’s no easy way to get it done. I think this is why it’s been so hard to get started, because I don’t want to be exposed. Yet, this is where God calls me to trust that He is at work. So, as I begin this journey, I am just a little bit fearful, but hopeful and excited for where God will lead me.