power

More thoughts on power by Henri Nouwen –

“What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life…….The long painful history of the church is the history of people who ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led. Those who resist this temptation to the end and thereby give us hope are the true saints.

One thing is clear to me: the temptation of power is greatest when intimacy is a threat. Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead.”
In the Name of Jesus

Do you relate to this – either from the vantage point of one who has grasped power instead of moving into love or from the place of one who has been hurt by someone choosing the easier road of control over caring?

I am what I call a reluctant leader. It has taken years for me to walk into this role and I am still navigating it. Relationships are also of the utmost importance to me so I think I tend to err on the side of love rather than power in leadership roles.

But I have been on the other end of things. I have experienced the abuse of power, the suffocation of control, the substitution of dominance over intimacy, and the choice of coercion over influence.
No matter where we find ourselves – as leaders or the ones being led – Jesus is our example and he always chose love over power.

Grace and peace-
Deb