Always Find the Good in Others – (Thirty Things I’ve Learned as a Leader 3/30)

I sat in awe at my mother’s funeral. As I heard friend after friend share what my mother meant to them, I realized there were traits my mother had that I hadn’t noticed before. I saw so many things I started taking notes. I didn’t want to forget what I heard. I already knew I had an awesome mother that I loved very much. I was just overlooking some things.

For example, my mom was tenacious. She fought like heck after her stroke to get back on her feet and to get moving forward in her life. That’s just one of many traits I saw. After the funeral, I was reflecting on what I heard. I asked myself the question “Why do people have to die before you realize how awesome they were?” The truth is, you don’t!

I learned something that day. Years of advice I had received from others started making sense… You have to always try to look for the good in others. I know that everyone is a sinner. I know the heart of man is deceitful. But, WE ARE THE HANDIWORK OF GOD, even if we have screwed up real bad.

You see, leadership is influence. Everybody influences somebody. The thing to ask is “Am I influencing others towards Jesus or away from him?” We should want to influence people for good, towards Jesus. And an important part of being able to influence towards God is the learned ability to always find the good in others.

If we can always try to find the good in others, here are some benefits:

1) People we lead will enjoy following more. They will respond better to our leadership. We all want to follow someone who can help us feel like we have potential and can make a difference.

2) We won’t write off “bad” people as quickly. The truth is nobody is beyond the reach of God’s grace. Plus, we’ve got no business writing anyone off in the first place.

4) We won’t demonize others that are different from us. I’m thinking here about politics, people we work with, etc.

5) We will be more godly in the way we treat others

Are you looking for the good in others? Why or why not?

A Personal Look into Someone’s Past

After my mom passed away on January 1 this year, we were going through her trunk of stuff to find pictures for the funeral service. While we were looking, we found my grandmother’s testimony from about 1970. Her name was Ann Buck and she wrote the story to tell about her horrible experience with rheumatoid arthritis. It causes excruciating pain and it struck her out of nowhere. She wanted people to know how the disease impacted her faith and how Jesus himself made her journey bearable.

This story has made a huge impact on my life. My grandmother died just a few years after she wrote the letter. I knew her and remember her from my early years, but I never knew she had such a deep, real, life-changing relationship with Jesus. When I became a Christian my senior year at Texas A&M University, I thought I was beginning a new Christian legacy in my family. None of us were walking with the Lord then. Most of my family members are walking with the Lord now, but at the time nobody seemed to be real serious about it. This letter made me realize that my family has a Christian heritage and legacy! I can’t tell you how much that means to me. We got off the path for a while, but we are back. It has also shown me where my mom got her determination and love of serving. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read it…

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