Wonder is one of the most important qualities we can cultivate as leaders. It is also one of the most difficult, especially amides the daily pressures and demands of life.
A very gifted, godly, friend of mine, after twenty-one years of “successfully” pastoring a mega-church, recently resigned and decided to pursue a quieter, more reflective life. He writes about his more recent learnings in a wonderful, little book called, Thursdays with Naomi. In it, he notes the learning that have emerged out of his time spent on Thursdays with his little granddaughter, Naomi.
Children, like God he notes, have an amazing ability to experience the joy of every thing in each and every moment. G.K. Chesterton, in his book Orthodoxy, writes:
It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike, it may be that God makes every daisy separately, and never got tired of making them.”
“The surprising truth is that the present moment is where joy is found, because strictly speaking, the present is all we have. The future is not yet, and the past has ceased to be….every good thing is to be enjoyed, and one way of enjoying it fully is relishing its repetition.”
And that sure does apply to the repetitions that come with serving and leading others day after day.
