Leader's Insight: Six Words to Live By

From my journal: I am romanced by the simple phrase by which Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916) chose to define his life: Present to God; present to people. In the morass of mission statements and pithy slogans designed to identify the passions of organizations, churches, and individuals, I think I like this one best. In recent weeks I’ve tried to awaken to it each morning.

Being present reminds me of the experience my wife, Gail, and I once had while on a walk in a Swiss alpine valley. We had come upon a farmer and his dog who were rounding up a large herd of brown cows (the ones with the huge bells around their necks). The farmer would point to a spot out on the edge of the herd. The dog would race in that direction, then suddenly stop to look back to get a second command. The farmer would sweep his hand to the right or left, and the dog, now furiously barking, would drive the cows wherever the farmer was willing them to go.

Then the dog would tear back to the farmer’s side, sit, breathing hard, and look up waiting—almost impatiently—for the farmer’s next order. For some reason, that picture of a dog who is so present to his master—ready to respond—shows me what it must mean to fit Foucauld’s definition of life.

Present to God? Making sure that I am quiet enough to hear some of the kinds of whispering that Elijah heard on the mountain. Being sensitive to the kinds of directives that Philip heard when he was directed to the chariot of the Ethiopian. Awake enough to discern the same voice that spoke to Paul one night when he was told not to be afraid, to keep on speaking, to not be silent, “for I am with you … and I have many people in this city.” Present to God’s love, to God’s rebukes, to God’s revelations of Himself.

Oswald Chambers writes: “Do not have as your motive the desire to be known as a praying (person). Get an inner chamber in which to pray where no one knows you are praying, shut the door and talk to God in secret. Have no other motive than to know your Father in heaven.”

Present to people? Harder or easier? I find it easy to be present—doesn’t everyone?—to attractive people, advantaged people, visionary people, intelligent people, likeable people. I love being present to people who like me and find me witty and charming. My grandchildren fit this category.

But present to people who are weak, poor, sick, grumpy, unreliable, unthankful, disrespectful? That’s another story. My instinct is, all too often, to be absent to them. And it’s here that my character and call get challenged every day. Sometimes I win; often I lose in this being present business. Because being present to people means that I must listen extra carefully, listen, and then respond. And that can be inconvenient and too taxing.

So I like Foucauld’s phrase that reduces complex issues and busy schedules to six simple words. We call that an elevator story—something said in a matter of seconds that defines a whole life.

Hurricanes and gas prices: These are a couple of things that we better start thinking about. They’re likely to redefine our ways of living. When gas regularly stays above $3.11 per gallon, people will most likely begin to change their transportation habits. And if heating costs triple, large buildings (at least in the north) are going to become a bit more of a burden. The megachurch depends heavily upon people who drive more than 15 miles to church. I would bet that a lot of people won’t do that anymore, or as many times per week as they used to. Heating costs will skew budgets. The commitment level of the larger crowd will be tested. I suspect a shake-up is coming in the way we all do church. I’d have a task force working on this one if I was leading a big church. Everyone ready for a strategy of church life that depends more upon small groups and distributed ministries?

Hurricanes? Look for a “green” component in emerging theological conversation. We better get the message quick. The earth’s warming up. The earth’s getting dirtier and dirtier. We’re squandering its resources at a horrific rate. Less and less of creation displays His handiwork. Category five hurricanes are among the first wave of warnings. There are consequences coming, and our grandchildren are going to inherit the wind in costs and in declining standards of life. A lot of conservative evangelicals blew off all this stuff as so-called liberal or left wing propaganda. And those of us who sort of smelled it were, too often, intimidated into silence. Can’t do it any longer.

Worth reading: Joan Diddon’s essay on grief in the New York Times Sunday Magazine (9/25). You’ll find it on line. She’s not a follower of Jesus by any means (“No one has their eye on the sparrow,” she writes). But she provides a look at suffocating sadness through the eye of one who doesn’t pursue the Biblical way. You also might want to find Peter Boyer’s New Yorker (9/22/05) article on the Billy Graham family and their impact on evangelicalism. It’s fair and informative.

Pastor and author Gordon MacDonald is chair of World Relief and editor at large of Leadership journal. His article, Cleaning Out the Sludge: A theology of turnarounds, is featured in the Fall issue of Leadership, at newsstands and mailboxes next week.

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