The Ache

Most effective leaders are ones who recognize real pain, lead, from within that pain and lead the people out of their own pain. Of course, joy is a wonderful emotion and experience. God created joy, but it is not the starting place. Joy is a result of the outcome. Pain is the beginning. We are born in pain and we live in pain- sometimes a lot of pain. The leader who can tap into our pain and walk through it with us - bearing our burdens like Jesus bears them - is going to be a real leader.

Pain. we want to avoid it, but we shouldn't. We really need to get the pain part right. In the Bible, we see where God appears to have put people in some really hard situations where they had to actually the pain of others- sometimes many others. Look at Moses, Ezekiel ad jeremiah. Jeremiah, in his own expression of life, understood and responded to the misery of the people. He wept. In fact, he wept so much that he became a spectacle and is still known as the weeping prophet. He identified with the pain of the people. Not only did he weep because of their wounds, but he also wept because he saw great pain coming.

Too often well-intentioned leaders are quick to stand up to be a voice for the voiceless rather than being a voice with the voiceless.We assume that because peoples voice arent being heard, they aren't speaking. And the truth often is that people on the margins are weeping, wailing, and crying out from the depths of their souls, but the rest of the world has hands over their ears. Leaders are folks who can help remove the earplugs and the blinders so tat we all can hear and see and feel the pain of others; so that the ache touches us and we cannot help but begin to carry the burdens and wipe the tears away.