Leadership

Proverbs 29:18 – “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”

Vision is the ability to see. However, in order to see, especially in an obscure environment, we need to know what we are looking for.

When God created the earth, He created animals and creatures to be coloured in a way that they are indistinguishable in their natural environment. A deer in the forest, or a squirrel in a tree, often blend with their natural habitat so they are difficult to see. In a similar way, social behaviour and regional modes of dress will either distinguish or camouflage. A western cowboy walking down the street in New York would be easy to spot. 

We hear of the laws of nature; the law of gravity or the laws of cause and effect. Then we have social law, moral law, codes of conduct, core values and conscience, religious and cultural laws. Leadership is given the task to accomplish safe and effective navigation to an expected end. 

A Bull elk leading the herd is expected to sense danger and decide whether to gather the herd, form a circle, with the weak and young protected in the centre, and stand off the danger. Or whether it’s time to run for cover in the woods. This animal calls on all his senses and life experiences to help him execute a plan. We might refer to this as vision. At the same time, he is aware of the laws that imminent danger suggests. A teenage child will cause the herd to run. A pack of wolves might have the leader circle and fight. Experience with man and gun suggests it’s time for space when they see a human.

North America was settled by the industrious low- to middle-class; largely people that were seeking financial and religious freedom and opportunity.  A European tradesman who, because of inflation, would likely be a subordinate to his employer all his life, saw the new frontier as a ticket to freedom and right to ownership of property. They had vision.

Three and four generations have passed. North America now finds itself where Europe was two hundred years ago. The vision has grown dim. The verdant grass in the meadow, the awareness that humans are for the most part harmless, and that big domestic dogs resemble wolves, has caused the leader to become complacent. He has found a rancher’s feed yard is less demanding than pawing through a foot of snow for sustenance.  He is no longer afraid of the urban environment. Those in leadership have lost their vision. 

Our most recent pandemic has scarred our society. In an attempt at helping the helpless, we have developed helplessness. Our society has found out that work from home takes less effort. We now have no supervisors. We have no camaraderie. We have developed into an independent society. This works for the strong. It however leaves the weak to become weaker. We have a new work-from-home generation that is clamouring for a four-day work week. This post-pandemic culture is infecting our society’s mind. We have testimonials of university graduates with student loans equaling their home mortgages, that openly admit they remember little of practical use from their time in school.

Now. Before you delete this commentary from your screen. Consider this. Where have the European Nations gone? Who has suffered, and who is suffering? The common person. When the wealthy ten percent control ninety percent of the country, you soon have societal poverty. You end up with a bunch of sick people. The mental health of a homeless street person is seldom of a quality that allows him or her to contribute.  In the province of British Columbia over two thousand people succumbed to drug-related afflictions in 2023. We are advocating controlled-use centres. We will poison them slowly. We will let them know they have no hope.

I’m not writing a political commentary. This problem did not start here. This problem started among healthy, sane people who defied the laws and ordinances set out by a supreme authority, God, the Creator of the Universe. It is not for the people of God to take on the secular governments. We are told by Jesus himself to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. We are however, as followers of God, given instruction in the Bible and by guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to wake up and smell the coffee. Both the affluence in our own churches, and the gap between those who have and those who have not, are hatching the same culture we see in the world.

We need fearless leaders. Humble God-inspired leaders. Motivated by truth!