A Blessing for Leaders

Elizabeth concluded the retreat by reading this Blessing for Leaders by John O’Donohue. 

I translated it in French on my French blog – a fun challenge! 

This is actually a great read for leaders – and anyone having authority on anything and anyone, including one self.

May you have the grace and wisdom to act kindly,
learning to distinguish between what is personal and what is not.

May you be hospitable to criticism.
May you never put yourself at the center of things.
May you act not from arrogance but out of service.
May you work on yourself, building up and refining the ways of your mind.

May those who work for you know you see and respect them.
May you learn to cultivate the art of presence in order to engage with those who meet you.

When someone fails or disappoints you, may the graciousness with which you engage

be their stairway to renewal and refinement.

May you treasure the gifts of the mind through reading and creative thinking
so that you continue as a servant of the frontier
where the new will draw its enrichment from the old, and you never become functionary.

May you know the wisdom of deep listening, the healing of wholesome words,
the encouragement of the appreciative gaze, the decorum of held dignity,
the springtime edge of the bleak question.

May you have a mind that loves frontiers
so that you can evoke the bright fields that lie beyond the view of the regular eye.

May you have good friends to mirror your blind spots.
May leadership be for you a true adventure of growth.

Amen!

The painting is by Bill Jacklin, detail, Calle II, oil on canvas, 2008.

A Retreat Between Ocean and Mountains

“Sitting is the new Smoking!” That was Elizabeth’s statement, explaining why she stayed standing as she read us a blessing, opening the retreat that she was facilitating from her beautiful home for all leaders of the Presbytery – that is anyone chairing a committee and/or with responsibilities in the Presbytery of Olympia. 

That’s actually true, being sedentary brings the same kind of health risks than smoking, I read. Always good to keep in mind, even if we had gathered to get to know each other better and work on our creativity.

Olympic mountains are hardly visible above the horizon 

That last Thursday was sunny and cold, a very clear sky that allowed us to see the Mt Rainier over the Puget Sound on one side and the Olympic mountains on the other.

At one point, Elizabeth displayed many pictures of paintings and works of art, inviting us to pick one we were attracted to. I chose this one. 

As many people in ministry, I am an introvert who function as an extrovert at work. I need times of solitude to recharge, times where I look like she does, expressionless. 

I did not know when I picked that Edgar Degas, the artist, had made the portrait of “A Convalescent”. I am no longer a convalescent – but sure need “fallow” times to stay healthy. 

First Page

It snowed last night in our little corner of Pacific Northwest: the year is starting in a white surrounding that allows us to literally step out on untouched territory in this brand new year. A year that many of us apprehend more than any other.

“Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the belief that, together, we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to have hope.” - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.[1]

Courage and hope: let’s grab those virtues as we face whatever may come next this year. To be followed…  

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[1] Quoted by Rabbi Bruce Kadden, in the News Tribune article “Faith Leaders Usher in 2017 with words of unity and hope” http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/article124007204.html