“Use the health you have” and churches

At High PEAKS this past Thursday, we interacted with a Leadership Summit DVD.  One point the speaker, former football star Mike Singletary, was making was that one of the dangers to maintaining and protecting high impact teams was comparing ourselves with others.   Most often when we do that, he warned us, it leads to complaining and grumbling about what we don’t have.   That is not a productive stance.  As our group discussed this issue, we remembered that the Bible warns us against this pitfall (2 Cor. 10:12; Lu. 18:11). 

Our LBA vice-chairman also invited us to integrate this warning with the inspirational story I had blogged about recently containing that key phrase, “Use the health you have.”    He suggested to us that this piece of advice from a young Mom struggling with health issues would also serve as a tremendous key thought to help us as a church counteract the tendency to compare and complain.    When our internal conversation is something like, “Don’t be thinking about what you don’t have; rather, use well what God has already given you,” we will be far better off.   We will have a more positive focus and we will find work that we can do within our reach.   It will help us use our own gifts rather than envying the gifts of others.  It was an inspired connection.

Sometimes too, we get so focused on trying to fix the problems –there are always problems–that they distract us from using our strengths.  But if our mind maintains emphasis on taking the best advantage of what is working, we will often make more progress.  

What great church leadership advice!   “Use the health you have!”