Act versus ReAct

These words have been ringing in my head the past week or so and they came to the forefront as I was sitting in our synod assembly meeting on Saturday and at church council meeting last night.

We, as a church, generally REACT.

Something occurs and we react. Our meetings and discussions are consumed by this occurred, now what are we going to do. We can almost phrase it as the following:

How are we going to react to the situation that we find ourselves in.

The unfortunate thing in my opinion is that normally, the react decision that we come up with is not that good. So, not only do we react but we react poorly.

I am struggling with coming up with situations that I can place out here to try to explain it in a clearer picture if those reading don't "track" what I am writing. The situation will not be in this post but it will be something that I will ponder and use for a future post.

Some way, some how, we need to ACT. Let us be on the forefront, make a decision and act toward a end in mind. Let us make a difference in our lives, our friends lives and the lives of our community.

As I sit here and am ready to go into staff meeting and then to work on a few projects this afternoon, a lot of what I am going to be doing is "reacting" to a few situations. Yes, things occur and we have to "react" at times, but the majority of things --- should be on the other end.

So, this afternoon, I am setting down some time/space to work on projects and plans are will be about acting and not reacting. As I do that, I think that I may have the following thought going through my mind:

Leadership is not about giving people what they want; it is giving what you as a leader know they need.