A True and Worthy Leader of the People

A leader of people is someone who seeks to help those who follow, to go further than the leader, otherwise the leader is nothing more than a wall blocking the path of the people.
A leader who is not afraid to let his people go further, then the leader will achieve great things, for instead of being the sum of one, a leader who does this, becomes the sum of many.
The goal of a great leader is to fulfill the vision that has been given to the him or her. If in order to do this, the leader needs to step aside and let a follower take the lead, a great leader can accept this.
In the case of the Kingdom of God, we need to learn from our past mistakes of pride and selfishness.
We spoke about our enemy causing division, when it was us that created the islands of denominations which created a permanent division. This is not to say that we will not have differences, as all people have differences, but it is to say that we should not let our differences get in the way of the workings of God.
We need to learn that there is only One Church under Christ. The goal of God's people is to fulfill the purpose of the church, even at the cost of our denominations and our positions. We are not important, God's purposes are all that matter. What He wants to achieve should be our only goal.
We need to learn the simple things again. We need to learn the things that matter.
We need to learn to love. This might be an obvious thing, but it has been lost in the hype and glory of the modern church.
We need to learn to develop relationships with those who do not know Christ in order to win them to Him.
Not relationships built on achieving numbers, but relationships built around love and mercy. This may mean that we spend and give a lot to someone with or without the possibility that they will come to know Christ because ultimately the choice to come to Christ must be made by an individual.
We need to escape our religiousness and traditions in order to reach this world for Christ.
God's  Kingdom is not for those with great knowledge, but it is for the humble, the merciful and those who learn the simple things in order to develop a relationship with God and the people.

a gentler view

I was thinking about how different cultures view things,and I related this example to a few friends this week.
In the world of flowers,western floristry always tries to present arrangements where the material is perfect,no blemishes are ever encouraged and if a petal or leaf is imperfect one is encouraged to remove or trim it back.
In Ikebana which holds the view of the Japanese culture,any imperfection on the leaf or flower adds to the beauty of the arrangement,because it represents life and all the stages,from the unfolding of a bud to the decay &; death of the plant material,each stage is beautiful, like the seasons in our lives.even a diseased branch can look beautiful,because it may change the colour or texture.if a mistake is made by cutting a branch or flowers too short or it breaks when arranging,that's fine, it is like life,we were meant to use it another way.
I so like that view of things,and also my friend suggested we should apply that gentler view to ourselves.
Gerrie