January 3. What Label Would be Appropriate This Week?

As leader of your team, how do people describe you? Do they portray you as an overbearing father or strict mother? Does the label corporate muckety muck or recognition grabbing supervisor stick to you?

One of the most challenging moments a leader might ever face is to ask how others, who are connected to your team, would describe you. What four ways or terms do you think your clients and team members might use?

Generous, value driven, client focused, compassionate, and caring might be spoken as well as those other labels. The labels probably will not be limited to one term when you work with a team, but we might expect to hear several. Those labels are indicative of the value we might be bringing to them in their opinions.

Other’s perceptions are their realities. Your value is important and worth the risk of asking those you respect for an honest reflective answer. Growing others includes tough conversations and tough conversations start with us.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, in what four ways would those you respect describe you? We read, "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah‬ 9:6‬ NLT‬‬.

I see this passage calling Jesus four things. Our self-worth is an important part of living out our relationship with Jesus and the rest of the world. What four ways would Christ use to describe you? The answer might be formerly lost sinner, forgiven child, disciple of mine, or claimed as he knows your name.

During this holiday season and into the new year, perhaps we can put an emphasis on the labels that Christ would give us and to live them out. What is the first thing that you can do about it in the next seven days? ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
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Let us pray, Father God, on Christmas Day we gave thanks for the reason for this celebration which is our Lord and Savior Jesus. Make us draw near to your heart and love today. Guide us to unwrap the gift of our relationship with Jesus like the gifts we exchange.

May the label on each package we share remind us of the labels Christ has for every name read. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,

Mark Queen