The Daily Next

#Next2015 Atlanta, Georgia

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12 (NLT)

It is a sad sight to see an individual who is bankrupt of hope. A malaise, a bitterness or a jadedness has descended upon their heart and soul and the stench of foulness often ascends up and out of that pit. Hopeless people are miserable people. Often it is the call of a great challenge that will lift their soul from the slough of despair unto the heights of hope.

Mike Hensley quotes a sailing proverb that says, “the pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist hopes the wind will change, but the leader adjust his sails.” Winds will shift, blow and change in our lives, relationships and organizations, but it’s the leader who doesn’t vainly wish for change but meets the challenge with resolve, determination and hope. Many a good person has been destroyed for a lack of challenge. Notice, not destroyed by the challenge (true, that does happen), but there is great danger among the sons and daughters of God who never accept the gauntlet of the great challenge.

The Gauntlet of the Great Challenge

What is this gauntlet? It is the acceptance of a truly worthy and noble dream, desire or goal that comes with cost and caution. It is a weight that that descends upon your soul that is a collision. It is where inspiration collides with desperation. Something that is currently out of reach, probably out of sight, but not out of your mind or heart. In fact, it is the singular acceptance of your soul to achieve, to conquer and to summit that mountain that seems to most insurmountable, unscalable, and indefatigable. The mind has a hard time grasping it. Others may even disdain your desire to pursue it. It is your great challenge, not the challenge another co-dependently has thrust upon you. In fact, most others may not even understand that this great challenge has gripped your soul.

Greatness is not discovered in the opinions of others nor is it revealed posthumously in obituaries.  Greatness is the opportunity your heart and soul grasp in the purview of the steps you take, the dreams God gives you and the obedience he calls you to. It is easy to confuse a having a great challenge with being great.

The first step of in accepting the gauntlet of greatness is humility. This feels paradoxical, but this is simply because of the flawed judgment the world lays upon us. For somewhere, somehow, we have begun to value more highly an individual who can jump higher or farther than one who is physical unable to even jump. We pay millions, have parades, and even give great honor to those who entertain us! Think of this and you will see how quickly we have become Roman.

It is more noble in the gauntlet of greatness, to stand with the lowly when you could soar with the great. I observed this last night when the CEO of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy (@dancathy) anonymously put on a Grady High School JV marching band uniform and stood shoulder to shoulder with students who barely knew what a razor was to play his trumpet as a member of the band. He could have been on stage, he could have sat a position of prominence (after all he is the CEO of a nearly $6 billion organization) or he could have arranged for his own recognition. But, he didn’t. He played with the band. If you didn’t see it was him, no one made mention, no one have recognition, and no one gave him a reward or a certification of participation. He simply put on a uniform and played his part, his role.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “a great man is always willing to be little.”

The path to the true heights of greatness often leads first and often through the valley of the lowly. After all, this is not only the doctrine Jesus taught, it was the example the He lived while here on earth. He didn’t seek recognition, reward or prominence. He sought to do the will of His Father. There is no greater example of living in the guantlet of greatness than Jesus. Philippians says that He “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (2:7, ESV).  We must empty ourselves of us. We are often our own worst enemy for our biases, presuppositions and predictions can hinder and hamstring us in accepting the gauntlet of the great challenge. There is a removal and or filtering process that must occur both in us and in our pursuit of our challenge (the Bible calls this sanctification). This is the second step and it can often introduce pain.

Shane Benson relayed that “leaders take us from here to there.” The problem, in respect to the challenge, is “here” is often a place of comfort and there has the prospect and perception of being uncomfortable. Leaders who wont risk calculated discomfort threaten their organization with stagnation and indifference. According to Benson, “the leader’s ability to communicate the why (are we leaving here) directly impacts the teams ability to see the way.”

Perhaps, you have been holding back, resisting the acceptance of what your soul knows to be a noble and lifting challenge. Perhaps, it is in the accpetance and addressing of this challenge that will draw you closer to Christ or closer to your goal. The soul is designed to soar from the heights of hope, but a hopeless heart leads to unfruitful and unfulfilling existence. Your family, your organization, those all around you will benefit from your hope and your acceptance of this guantlet of great challenge!