Lessons in leadership

Sometimes, I'm amazed at everything I have yet to learn. Even after years of ministry with young women, there is still such a vast abyss of endless things to learn about what it really means to be an effective leader.

I was challenged this week in regards to what kind of leader I am for the girls that live under my leadership at Liberty. I have 30 girls who live on my hall. They see me every day, and I know that the girls who live in my quad see even more of the real me than even the girls on my hall do. Not only do the girls on my hall see me, but I know that there are other people on campus who are well aware of the fact that I am in a position of leadership at school. That's a lot of people looking to me as a leader. Crazy.. and scary. Very scary.

It was brought to my attention on Monday night that being in a visible leadership position at a Christian university (well, really... any place I am, but I'm in college for now) can't be only about being a good example of spiritual maturity. As a leader on the Liberty campus, I can't assume that being spiritually solid is really the only thing people will be looking at. If people look up to you as a leader, they're going to look at your whole life, not just one aspect of it.

People are not going to only look at my spiritual life. They will look at everything they can see in me.
- How I dress
- How I talk (or don't talk) about other people
- How I handle conflict
- How I treat my body in diet and exercise
- How I handle stress
- How I manage my time between school and friends
- If I do my homework on time
- How I respond to authority
- If I allow myself to rest or not
- What I watch on TV or what movies I watch

And that's not even the whole list! It could go on forever. What an incredibly humbling and sobering thought. I've spent the better part of two days really thinking through this. Some of the things listed are things I never would have considered being part of leadership. I've never taken the opportunity to sit down and ask myself how the movies people see me watch could possibly affect what they see as acceptable or right. I've never thought about whether or not I allow myself to rest would even be noticed by the girls who live on my hall. Oh my word, it's insane how much I had not considered these things.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I am doing great in all of these areas. That would be absurd and foolish... and a lie.  I fall incredibly short in a lot of these areas, but the really cool thing about awareness is that it breeds opportunity for change. With the realization that people will see even the minor details of my life, I get the chance to really reevaluate what kind of example I set to the students of this campus. Every day, I get to ask myself, "If I were someone else, would I see an example worth following in Danielle?". I only hope that as I have the opportunity to set a new example, that I don't let it go to waste.

Don't let your opportunity go to waste. <3