2015: A Worth it Year – From Now to Forever

Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken

They say time stands still, and it certainly feels that way at times. The weeks become months, the months become years, the seasons become memories, and we are deceived into thinking time has been standing still. That is until we take a long look into the mirror or run into an old friend who doesn’t recognize us. That’s when we realize time doesn’t stand still. Then we ask, “Where has the time gone?”

When I think about my life, that’s the question I ask. Lynna and I announced our engagement on New Year’s Eve 1964, fifty years ago! Kent and Joel are now in their early forties, Kyle is working his way out of his mid-thirties, grandchildren who were born yesterday will be leaving home tomorrow. Where has the time gone?

Time is the ticking of a clock, the winding of a watch, the sun moving across the sky, the moon waxing and waning. Time is silent, still, soundless, but no force on earth speaks more loudly. No force is more powerful nor more unstoppable than time. Time is invisible, yet nothing leaves more visible marks on our faces, our bodies, our hearts and our lives than time.

It’s what happens during the relentless standing still of time that makes life what it is. The joys, the challenges, the achievements, the hurts, the pain, the struggles—all occur in time and make time stand still while it keeps on ticking.

So where does time go? Time goes from now to forever. And when it’s gone, nothing we’ve done can be undone. We all realize that we can’t manage time—we can’t speed it up, slow it down, or affect it in any way. All we can do is use the force of time to become the best we can be and do the best we can do. And what is it that keeps us from being the best we can be? What takes up most of our time—our fears, our resentments, our painful memories of the past, things that have gone from now to forever that we can never change. Trying to change these things isn’t worth it.

Virtually everything you’re angry about isn’t worth it. Virtually everything you’re worried about isn’t worth it. Virtually every ambition you’re stressed about isn’t worth it. Virtually every painful memory you refuse to forgive and forget isn’t worth it. What is worth it? Love is worth it. Forgiveness is worth it. Forgetting is worth it. Giving your life to others is worth it. Obeying God is worth it. Nothing else.

Make 2015 a worth it year. Love, forgive, forget, sacrifice, obey—that’s a worth it year. And remember there will come a time when Father Time will stand and beckon with an irresistible call, and we will go from here to forever. Only what’s worth it will go with us.

From "2015:  A Worth it Year – From Now to Forever" on www.leaderformation.org/blog)

About:  The Broken Leadership Blog is about changing the leadership conversation from what we are doing with our hands to what God is doing through our hearts.