Bless me, father, for I have sinned and it's been three years since our last board retreat. We have a pair of truly magnificent facilitators working with us, gratis. Over and over through the day I was struck by their many insights and flooded with gratitude for their generosity.
After spending nearly a full day in conversation with my colleagues, the thing I'm constantly surprised at is my own capacity for bias. How insidious it is to become derailed by what goes on in one's own head, unchecked, unverified, unchallenged. And how that pulls us off course. But in the calm water miles below, that strong sense of shared purpose - the bottom current that will not be denied by the tumbling surface waves.
The thing that doesn't surprise me, but that I find so encouraging, is how these experiences leave me feeling that I can better tolerate issues that are yet unsettled. It's good to have the practice in not stepping in to correct, amend, confront - just keep one's mouth shut and listen to someone else's perspective when it may feel unfair, without fixing the discrepancy that seems so obvious. And the sense of humility to know that others are surely hearing you with that same temptation to disdain, but with the gift of grace to let your own (inaccurate and annoying) voice be heard.
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