The Challenge Invitation
Winston Churchill embraced the battle he was faced with, challenged his nation to fight, and led the free world to victory.
Every leader needs a little Winston Churchill in them.
He of the "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat but the cause is great and we are going to win and it's going to be worth it” leadership school.
One evening, in 1945, after rallying the free world to fight and win the Second World War, Churchill was at dinner when a woman at the table asked, "Now that it is all over, what was your worst moment in the war—the fall of France, the threat of the invasion, the Blitz?" After a minute he answered: “Frankly, my dear, I enjoyed every moment of it." He essentially said that he enjoyed the fight. Now, did he really enjoy sleeping on a cot in his underground war room listening to bombs fall on London above him during the blitzkrieg? Did he really enjoy the heartrending tribulations and terrors of war? I doubt it. But he was glad to be involved in a great cause—standing against evil—and shaping history.
I don't know how many times I have had people come up to me and say something like “You inspired me to start a new business, or go back to school, or run for the school board, or launch a nonprofit, or to ask her to marry me" and I think … “Yes!” And then they will say, “My new business is really struggling and I hope we're going to make it through this next quarter" or some similar thing. And my heart drops, and I am tempted to say “I'm sorry I inspired you." Really. But instead, I say something like: “I'm sorry you are struggling … but you have to relish the fight. God will use this to shape you. Isn't this battle better than living an uninspired status quo life? You are going to make it. Don't lose the faith. Your struggle now will make the victory sweeter in your future. Someday this will make a great story. I am praying for you."
I have thought many times about this scripture in the Old Testament history book called Judges—or Leaders:
“Now these are the nations that the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.” (3:1-2 ESV)
The people of Israel had finally been led into the Promised Land and had fought long and hard to secure it. But God made sure they still had some enemies left to fight. Why? Because they needed something to fight for. This was especially true for new generations of leaders who had not been engaged in the battles and the setbacks and the victories of the past. One paraphrase of this passage states:
“God wanted to give opportunity to the youth of Israel to exercise faith and obedience in conquering their enemies.”
This passage, about physical and literal events in history, and specific to the time and people it was written for, points to a larger life principle demonstrated throughout all of Scripture: If God loves us, He will give us something great to fight for. Thomas Merton asserted:
"Souls are like athletes, that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers, and rewarded according to their capacity.”
I sometimes hear leaders say something along the lines of "I sacrificed so you won't have to.” I especially hear well-meaning parents say this. And I get it. But if you love the people you are leading you will inspire them to have vision, and dream dreams, and take risks that they will have to suffer for.
This is true on a corporate level of course. An organization always has to have a dream so big that it demands new generations of stakeholders to struggle to achieve it.
It's also true for individuals. We can never be satisfied only with the thing we've already fought for. There is always more to be done, more possibility to embrace, more of our Area of Destiny to actualize. We need to be fully engaged—and to challenge those we lead to be fully engaged—in the struggle for a good and great cause.
We need to constantly incite people to have a dream worth fighting for.
Author Steven Pressfield wrote of a general who rewarded some in his army who had distinguished themselves in battle with gifts or inclusion at his table. “But to those he wished most to esteem, he sent not boons but trials. He singled them out for the most perilous duties, for in these, he said, he sent out lieutenants and got back captains." We are not doing those we lead a favor when we protect them from difficult assignments.
I think we make a grave mistake when we buy into the understandable but misguided notion that good leaders should make things as easy as possible for those around them. If we do this, and protect against the struggles and sacrifices, then we also deny the true satisfaction of achievement.
I love the language Teddy Roosevelt used to describe some of his formative and difficult years as a rancher and deputy sheriff in the cold frontier of North Dakota:
“We knew toil and hardship and hunger and thirst; and we saw men die violent deaths as they worked among the horses and the cattle, or fought in evil feuds with one another; but we felt the beat of hardy life in our veins, and ours was the glory of work and the joy of living.”
This kind of sentiment, about the glory of struggle, needs to inform the way we challenge people to approach their lives. There always needs to be a new frontier, a great cause, where our character is tested and more fully formed, where we must rely on God and grace, where we can win great victories and enjoy more meaningful responsibilities.
A hospitable leader should love people so much, and want them so passionately to live a full and abundant life, that we create environments, present opportunities, and issue challenges that welcome the difficulties inherent to dream fulfillment.
We are in a great moral struggle. We are called to advance good in this world. We each have a specific assignment in this conflict. We must not get "wobbly" as Churchill might have said. We should run to the battle and challenge those we lead to do the same.