This morning, I was listening to a podcast that I tune into weekly. I must be nearly 200 episodes into it, if not more, so one might say I enjoy it at the least. It’s called the BEMA Podcast, and it is typically hosted by two guys - Marty Solomon and Brent Billings; however, this morning’s episode was missing Brent and featured Marty’s wife, Becky, for the first time.
This episode of the podcast turned out to be a discussion between husband and wife. It was a healthy talk that ranged from Marty and Becky’s differences to their family’s core values, and it was during their chat that I began to feel convicted - not by anything in particular they were questioning of their listenership’s marriages, but just by the way they talked about leading their family. It made me feel behind, even as Sarah and I are newly-weds, like I was being a poor leader in my own family. So I began to write down some questions.
What does leadership look like in marriage?
What are our core values?
How can I pray more?
What will I have to sacrifice?
How can I do the hard things?
How can I always be honest?
Will I lose sleep?
How can I make sure Sarah feels cared for, loved and known?
What can we build together to begin working toward family goals?
These were things I hadn’t thought of before and questions I hadn’t addressed. But now questions that I want to. Even though we’re a young family, and I’m a young husband, I don’t want to leave those things as excuses to neglect family leadership.
So this Friday, heading into the weekend, this is my reader question: When do you feel most like a leader and how can you pull that into an area of life when you feel less like one?
-Cliff
Cliff’s Note: Sacrifice is a requirement of leadership, and that is not easy.