If you do not think you have the time or need to create a StarterBoard. Here are three reasons for you to want to do so.
Reason #1: Creating a StarterBoard creates opportunity for you to connect with yourself.
Creating a StarterBoard may expose a deeper want that you may or may not want to think about. I don’t know what’s going through your mind right now, but the want I’m talking about is the want for connection. And a StarterBoard creates opportunity for you to connect with what matters most to you. To know yourself a bit better.
Consider Proverbs 19:2, “Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.” We often think of knowledge in terms of external. Let’s remember having knowledge of ourselves is critical, as well.
It requires you to be curious and ask yourself probing, powerful questions. It exposes hopes, fears, sorrows and dreams as you consider the things that REALLY matter to you. You get to connect with what you want to be your focus, including things you already know and with things you may have buried down deep. Do you want to make this connection? Maybe, maybe not. Read on.
Where we can get stuck is when our tender hearts want to be more protected than grown up. Fear does a fine job of squelching curiosity. We often live in a way that assumes “I’m here to find what is safe for me and protect it, meaning to control, correct and/or direct my own life in a particular direction toward a particular solution”.
But in the big picture, it is God who directs, who helps, who is helper. (Is. 48:17, Prov. 16:9,Ps. 54:4)
Trusting God is our helper releases us from taking on something that is not ours to fix. Or to fake. And releases us to ask questions, to be curious, of ourselves and others. After all, God is great and in control of all things. (Ps. 115:3, Prov. 16:9, 2 Chron. 20:6) Not me, not you. He is good. (Ps. 119:68, Ps. 106:1, Rom. 8:28) And He is at work. (Eph. 2:10)
With this mindset and the restful presence it ushers in, rather than asking ourselves the burdensome question of how will I manage - we get to ask, with wonder and curiosity:
“How might I see God’s transforming work in my life today?”
Because we trust God is good and at work, we get to release ourselves to powerfully discover what we need to take ownership for our own growth. We can ask questions about our life focus because we can entrust our life to God and his good work in and through us.
And that is our hope. That God will work in us, will grow us up and give us direction along the way. It is a very freeing and exciting place to be – it’s freeing for everyone. We get to be a part of God’s work, not the master over it.
Life-changing, transformative questions come from God-centered people who are free to entrust their own lives to him (2 Peter 4:19) , who trust his power at work in their life (2 Cor. 5:16-18), who are free to be powerless themselves, free to not know where they are going, or to think they know where are going, but who believe God has prepared a way for them to go.(Eph. 2:10) and who are curious about where that may be!
Reason #2: Creating a StarterBoard creates opportunity for you to connect with others.
Many of us hesitate to want to open wide our hearts, even to ourselves. At the same time, many of us are isolated and alone. Coincidence? According to the article Lament as Mission, posted by Gravity Leadership, “loneliness and isolation are the privilege of affluence…we live in large castles of independent self-sufficiency, closing ourselves off to connection and dependence on others.” We are lacking connection. Even if we want it, we seem to have more powerful wants that impede our growth.
We want to hide. I know I sometimes do. If we’ve been hurt, building walls rather than opening doors is often the safer option.
We don’t want to take the time. Due to the demands of work, school, sports, choir, cheer, etc we are swamped. But still, we often take time for what we really want. And we are often the ones in control of the choices we book for ourselves. Hmm.
Bottom line, taking the time to ask and answer these StarterBoard questions can feel inefficient, potentially costly, potentially hurtful and exposing. Creating a StarterBoard is hard. But it is a great opportunity to start new, to start down a path of living out what matters most to you at work, home and in life.
And it creates opportunity for you to connect with and lead others to live in the same way. We can only live and lead as far as we have personally experienced. As Christian leaders, we are made to experience living in connection with others. The first and last verses of Proverbs 18 supports this truth.
18:1: “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.” How, if at all, have you found yourself isolating and perhaps even turning to unsound judgment to ease loneliness and cope with overwhelm. For me it can look like binging on HGTV and social media and not wanting to get to know others who don’t already know me. I’m also thinking of the immense number of men and women who find daily wine drinking a bit more of a form of relief than a form of enjoyment.
18:24: “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” How often do we find ourselves isolating from others to protect ourselves from whatever “ruin” may mean to us, then we end up feeling lonely. Yet, if we have friends, our ability to endure is strengthened by our relationships with others.
Connecting with others requires trust that God is at work, and it requires respect. It requires giving respect to both ourselves and others to believe that we are capable and competent, able to come up with our own solutions. Stopping the hand-holding. Or the fear-folding. And the judging. It allows us to discover insight, awareness and actions for ourselves. This is transforming growth.
Creating a StarterBoard creates opportunity for such growth.
Reason #3: Creating a StarterBoard creates opportunity for rest.
The process of creating a StarterBoard takes time, work and lots of thinking. But it empowers us to live more like we what were made to live, and when we’re living focused, fighting for what matters and fueled up to keep doing it, we are more at rest within.
Being more at rest within shows up on the outside, too. Do we really want that? I think we do. People who live out what matters most to them are attractive. They are attractive often because they are at rest down deep. They break in, draw others in and are places of rest for them, too.
So the question is what makes it worth it to you, if anything, to choose to want to create a StarterBoard more than you want the other powerful wants in your life?
It may feel unproductive and is costly. But not doing so may costs so much more.
I encourage you to take the time to find and connect with your focus, your fight and your fuel to keep going. And to do so with curiosity, respect for yourself and trust that God is at work!
© Copyright 2019 Jill Williams and Springs Coaching. All Rights Reserved.
