Hospitable Leaders Need High Hope Levels
Hospitable Leaders Need High Hope Levels
There is a lot at stake in your life if you are a leader, especially if your life is being lived and your leadership is being offered to reveal God’s glory. You cannot afford not to be hopeful.
“We must relentlessly cultivate our hope in God and good.”
That is harder on some days than others.
On September 12, 2001, I spent a night serving as a chaplain in the ruins of the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan. Man, did I see some horrific stuff!
People were frantically looking for loved ones. Rescue canines alerted aid workers that something human was in a section of rubble, and I watched them furiously work in the hope of finding someone buried alive. Instead, they found only a body part.
I spent time at the makeshift morgue where there was a dark surprise that so few bodies were found. And I saw the widespread disappointment grow at the realization that virtually no one was alive to be rescued. I had the thoughts most people in the world did as they watched the story unfold: How can there be such evil in the world? How can there be such pain and loss and grief?
While walking through the devastation, I found a tanker truck from the West Orange fire department manned by a group of dedicated firefighters. They were working hard, trying to put out some of the smoldering fires as well as digging through the rubble, looking for survivors. Just a few weeks before, I had been asked to help dedicate a new fire truck in town. The mayor had smashed a bottle of champagne to christen the vehicle, and I prayed. I was also asked to pray for several new firefighters who were inducted that day, including the first female firefighter in the history of West Orange.
Well, in the middle of that 9/11 devastation, here stood that young woman. One of her first experiences as a firefighter. I wanted to somehow encourage her and those other courageous souls as they fought through one of the most terrible events in recent history.
I didn’t know what to say.
So I simply asked, “Would you mind if we prayed?”
The quickness with which they formed a circle and joined hands was revealing. We felt the presence of God in the middle of that destruction. There was hope. I didn’t fully understand it, and I imagine those firefighters didn’t either. But there was hope.
I am reminded of the marvelous Bible story where Jesus was walking on the water toward His disciples during a tremendous storm. These men, huddled in a boat far from shore, tossed about by perilous waves, were overwhelmed by fear. And then they were sucker punched with a double dose of distress by what they thought was a ghost—Jesus walking on the water. The closer the image of Christ appeared to them, the more alarmed they became. In the midst of their trouble, Jesus calmed their fears by saying, “It’s me. I am real. And I am here. Don’t be afraid” (John 6:16-21, paraphrased).
“Because of the presence of God in our world, there is reason to hope.”
Humanity is in somewhat of a mess, but things can get better. God intends for them to get better.
Because of His active participation in our lives and in our world, we can believe that good will defeat evil, love will conquer hate, hope will crush despair, and we will be led to a better future.
I recently read a book that stated, “According to the literature, the development of high levels of hope is necessary to be an effective leader.”1 I like that. We need high hope levels. All is not lost.
It is difficult to overstress how essential it is for a hospitable leader to practice a disciplined hope.
Leaders accept responsibility for others. The kinds of preferred futures we can build must involve more than just ourselves. We should be bringing others, many others, into the realization of the dreams that exist in our minds and in their minds. Leaders do not just experience. They help others experience. They do not just do. They help others do. And they do not create only for themselves. They empower others to create as well.
Adapted from Live Ten (Thomas Nelson) and The Hospitable Leader (Baker Publishing Group) by Terry A. Smith. All rights reserved.
1 John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene, Re-inventing the Corporation: Transforming Your Job and Your Company for the New Information Society (New York: Warner Books, 1986).