{"id":520,"date":"2020-12-24T19:05:10","date_gmt":"2020-12-24T19:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/?p=520"},"modified":"2020-12-24T19:06:43","modified_gmt":"2020-12-24T19:06:43","slug":"what-leaders-do-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/12\/24\/what-leaders-do-for-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"What Leaders Do for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I recall the time when my dad was out late for work. It happened a\nlot when we first moved to Tennessee. He had left a good job in lumber sales in\nLouisiana to help start a new church in Nashville, Tennessee. So when we got\nhere, he was looking for work. He found odd jobs here and there and jobs that\nhad him working from morning to late at night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Christmas, mom would prepare us for the idea that Santa didn\u2019t make a lot of stuff this year and so we wouldn\u2019t be getting very much. This conversation happened every year. And every year, we had so much stuff, it took forever to go through it all. But even if they hadn\u2019t been able to get us stuff, would we have been provided for? Yes. Because they gave us gifts that lasts for eternity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

See, dad\u2019s time spent at work was to provide. It was to make sure\nhis wife and his kids (in that order) were taken care of. He always attempted\nto show us how God would act. What God would say. What God would think. He\ntaught us to see through God\u2019s eyes and not our own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many many times we would say things like, \u201cbut his dad lets him!\u201d Dad\u2019s response would always be, \u201cI\u2019m not his dad, I\u2019m yours and I don\u2019t care what they think or what you think, I only care what God thinks.\u201d Both of my parents were always making sure we knew what was most important. What we thought, what we wanted, simply wasn\u2019t very important. Only what God wanted. I was talking with a young relative, around age 4 at the time, and he kept saying \u201cbut I want\u2026 but I want.\u201d I looked at him and said \u201cwhat you want isn\u2019t important at all right now. The only thing that is important is that you do what I\u2019m telling you to do.\u201d He looked at me like I had three heads. It was clear he had never been told that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This principal seems to be lost on the current generation. Things are always about what WE want. Instead of: what does God want. Pastor Charles Simpson<\/a> expressed my sentiments on this exactly when he said, \u201cI was born before they invented self-esteem. My parents just weren\u2019t that impressed with me.\u201d Exactly! Sometimes they were pleased. But mostly, they were providing for us and instructing us. I\u2019m here to tell you that kept me out of jail. There\u2019s truly no telling where I\u2019d be if I hadn\u2019t received the instruction of pleasing God before our own wants and desires. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is what leaders do. Leaders give you something that will last\na lifetime. My parents always gave us more than enough during Christmas, but\nthere was a reason. They didn\u2019t get themselves ANYTHING. Was it because they\ndidn\u2019t have enough money to get all four of their boys something and get something\nfor themselves? Perhaps. But, based on my knowledge of them, I\u2019m inclined to\nthink it was because of the principal of being a real leader. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaders serve first and eat last. Leaders wait until everyone has\neaten at least once before they even pick up a plate. It doesn\u2019t matter if the\nfood is cold now. As long as everyone else has eaten, a leader is happy. Leaders\nlet company use their toys first. Leaders let friends be the first to play a\ncertain game. Leaders get up and give the last seat to someone else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This leadership was instilled in us at a very early age. I\u2019ll\nnever forget when I saw a very clear, tangible expression of this. My little\nbrother Jonathan was about 6 or 7 years old. He went with me to get a copy of\nmy driver\u2019s license. The waiting room had about 15 or 20 chairs and they were\nall full. He and I had taken the last two. A man walks in and looks around for\na seat. Jonathan immediately, without hesitation, gets up and kneels down next\nto me to give up his seat. He had been taught that his comfort didn\u2019t matter that\nmuch. He had been taught to respect his elders. Subsequently, he entered the\nmilitary with almost no problems. He already knew what real leadership looked\nlike.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know what else leaders don\u2019t do? Leaders don\u2019t buy for themselves at Christmas<\/em><\/strong>. They shop solely for others. I\u2019ve seen many things I\u2019ve wanted during this season. But I simply cannot bring myself to buy myself something. It\u2019s just not in me. Why? Because that\u2019s not what a leader does. I have the money to buy more than enough gifts for everyone in my family, and that\u2019s a lot of people. I also have enough money to get what I want for me. But I won\u2019t. Because I intend on sending a clear message to my children that leaders provide and put others first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Christmas, whether you have the means to provide everything your children want or not, make sure you provide the most important gift, pleasing God. Make sure your children know that what God wants is more important than any switch game or TikTok trend. Make sure they know that, at times, they aren\u2019t that important. They need to know that. When we learn that what God wants supersedes what we want, we will then live in unity with Him and His children. Because then our lives become about others first. My kids can answer this quickly when I ask: what\u2019s the key to life summed up in one word? Others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay Classy GP!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grainger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recall the time when my dad was out late for work. It happened a lot when we first moved to Tennessee. He had left a good job in lumber sales in Louisiana to help start a new church in Nashville, Tennessee. So when we got here, he was looking for work. He found odd … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What Leaders Do for Christmas”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[12,6],"tags":[98,96,97],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":524,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions\/524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}