humility

I've been reading John Dickson's new book Humilitas: A lost key to life, love and leadership. I picked this book up because I heard Dr. Dickson speak at the Leadership Summit from the Willow Creek Community church on the 12th of August. Humility, Dr. Dickson suggests is not self deprecation, it is not humiliation, and it is not the Caspar Milquetoast-ey being a door mat kind of thing. Humility, he suggests, is not being humiliated but from a position of strength surrendering one's power in the service of others. Humility is using what power we have in the service of others.

Imagine what might happen if Pastors, Members of Congress, military, civic, educational, business and other leaders decided that their purpose was not the control of others and not their own personal self aggrandizement but we were in the positions we were in so that we might serve others. Serving others would certainly take many forms. Serving others in such a way as to keep them in certain categories or places would not be service at all. Serving others would have to mean making the world a better place. Serving others would have mean helping them become all that God had called them to be. Imagine humble leaders using their power in the service of others . . .

bj