Friends For The New Year
As I write this I am setting at my desk in my office at the church God has given to me to lead. It took over six months for both of us to come to a decision on whether or not we were right for each other. At one point in time I actually told them I did not want the position but through a discerning spirit named Steve Penuel I came to understand that I was scared about taking the position. Once I knew I was scared I prayed and the fear was lifted and the process went on.
I told you that to tell you this. We can not possibly have any idea what lies ahead in the new year. God has a plan and a timing for everything. Don’t be scared to try new things. The biggest thing I learned from my bout with fear is that it can seem like God is saying, No this is not right for you,” but in reality it is the fear that you are listening to not God. Make it a habit to get people into your life that can help you discern Gods calling.
In his book, Let Your Life Speak Parker Palmer tells about his call to be the president of a college. A quaker tradition is to gather 12 elders together not to give you advice but only to ask you questions. during this time one of the elders asked him this question, “What would you Like most about being a president?” then he said this:
The simplicity of that question loosed me from my head and lowered me into my heart. I remember pondering for at least a full minute before I could respond. Then, very softly and tentatively, I started to speak: “Well, I would not like having to give up my writing and my teaching…. I would not like the politics of the presidency, never knowing who your real friends are…. I would not like having to glad-hand people I do not respect simply because they have money…. I would not…”
Gently but firmly, the person who had posed the question interrupted me: “May I remind you that I asked what you would most like?”
I responded impatiently, “Yes, yes, I’m working my way toward an answer.” Then I resumed my sullen but honest litany. …
Once again the questioner called me back to the original question. But this time I felt compelled to give the only honest answer I possessed, an answer that came from the very bottom of my barrel, an answer that appalled even me as I spoke it.
“Well,” I said, in the smallest voice I possess, “I guess what I’d like most is getting my picture in the paper with the word president under it.”
I was sitting with seasoned Quakers who knew that though my answer was laughable, my mortal soul was clearly at stake! They did not laugh at all but went into a long and serious silence—a silence in which I could only sweat and inwardly groan.
Finally my questioner broke the silence with a question that cracked all of us up—and cracked me open: “Parker,” he said, “can you think of an easier way to get your picture in the paper?”
By then it was obvious, even to me, that my desire to be president had much more to do with my ego than with the ecology of my life—so obvious that when the clearness committee ended, I called the school and withdrew my name from consideration. Had I taken that job, it would have been very bad for me and a disaster for the school.
Get people around you in the coming year that will encourage you and not tear you down. Make new friends if you need to or connect with ones from your past that have built you up. When you have people you can bounce ideas off of, and get support from you can do anything.
