While musing with a friend last night, I thought out loud, “perhaps to the extent that a leader can do great good, they can also do great evil.” Great is great. Deep is deep. The direction we take greatness is ours to decide. History is full of leaders of greatness. Some reflect the goodness of God, some reflect the horror of brokenness.
In my own life, I’ve seen both. Sometimes simultaneously. It’s a great paradox I have marveled at for years. How do I hold and honor the good, when a leader leaves a wake of wounded people behind them?
A part of it, for me, is release. I choose intentionally to release the leader. I allow that they are on a journey, as I am. I observe without judgement (truly I do not know their story). I try to encourage without criticism (their heart is probably wounded). I will not slander or gossip because because that seems to perpetuate a cycle.
And at the same time, I recognize any hurts or wounds they have inflicted onto my own heart. For that is simply a reality of brokenness. We wound and get wounded and wound more. Sometimes our leaders wound us. And that wound is deep. So I don’t ignore that. I tend to my own broken heart. I acknowledge it and talk about it and let myself fully feel it so that eventually... I can heal. Though the arrow may have come from the leader, the wound is 100% mine to tend and heal. So I tend to it, gently, tenderly. To expect quick healing is to deny the wound exists (for me, healing has always come slowly in these areas).
Have you been wounded by a leader? By someone you wanted desperately to trust? If so, for a moment, may I please sit with you in that pain? May I honor your heart and your hurt and offer you this simple blessing:
My friend, may you feel fully. Perhaps to the extent you feel pain, you can feel joy. May you feel protected. Your heart is fragile.May you feel love. You are a treasure.May you feel hope.When you need to, may you feel anger.And when time has done its gentle and soothing work, may you feel peace. That deep, mystical peace that surpasses all understanding.