Have you ever felt that way? You don’t really see any options and so you conclude that you really have no choice.
You may feel like you are stuck. Perhaps you’ve tried everything you can think of but nothing has made any difference. Perhaps the only other things you can think of are absolutely ridiculous or stupid. If you did any of them it would be career suicide or you would encounter such pushback that it just wouldn’t be worth it.
But you’d be wrong.
You always have a choice. Always.
Stick with me for a minute here. We get stuck in our thinking not because we don’t have options but because we have come to some pretty firm assumptions and conclusions about those options. Then having written them off we look around and see no choices. To put it simply we have essentially talked ourselves out of what we can do because we have concluded that we don’t like what we think will be the results.
It may be we’ve bought into false assumptions about people or situations and so we write off those possibilities. “No can’t be.” “Mr or Mrs (blank) would fire me/make my life miserable/kill me.” “Too expensive. Too hard. Too much work. Nobody to help. etc.” Really? Not really. It may be because the options just don’t “feel like something we would do.” Our self understanding or self image just feels uncomfortable with doing things differently. So we don’t even give ourselves permission to dream, imagine or explore. We may have huge blind spots and not even know that another option exists that is right in front of us. Most of us have had the experience with our kids or spouse or small group of friends discussing what we can do. Someone mentions something so obvious but we were simply oblivious to even think of it ourselves. The picture is a slap on the forehead and an audible “duh!” Why didn’t I think of that? See there are other choices. We just didn’t think of it ourselves.
So when it comes to leadership and ministry. There are plenty of times we can feel stuck and without an option or choice. We’ve tried it all. Done it all. Given our all. Hit the wall. Stuck. But the reality is that there are an infinite amount of options and choices because we serve an infinite and gracious God.
So try harder to think deeper? See what we can’t see? That’s hard to do on our own. We need outside help. So sit down with a trusted friend, colleague or ministry partner. Or seek out a coach. They are trained to lead us to new or renewed discoveries, awareness and fresh clarity. Then they help us to make wise choices based upon what we’ve now perceived and learned. You always have a choice. Always.
Rev. Scott Gress is believes in Growing People for Ministry by focussing on leadership, discipleship and teamwork. Contact Scott if you are interested in him working with you or your church. A free 30 minutes sample session is available to explore how you might work best together. The Coaching Leader Podcast is also available on iTunes and his YouTube page. You can contact Scott through email scottgress@me.com or his blog page scottgress.com or at 561-542-4472
Growing People for Ministry" Leadership + Discipleship + Teamwork
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