My son has been participating in karate for about a year and a half now.  Almost 6 months ago, he moved up to the “Leadership” class. It tends to be a little more intense with expectations of learning the form more quickly and adding a couple different forms.  Since returning from Christmas break its has been challenging to keep him motivated and focused for class due to a lack of consistent classes. Between bad weather and my meeting schedule, he has not been able to attend as regularly.  The last class he attended, it was really tough to get him there. Once he was at class, he focused, worked hard and as he said at the end, “it was a rough class.”

 I sat and observed the class, like my wife & I try to do.  It was a physical class but there were some thoughts that I walked away with and some that my son shared.  I shared with my son that he showed great leadership when helping a younger classmate with her form. On the same note, I shared how, even though his form was not perfect, an adult in the class complimented him on this form.  There was also some laughter in class as some of the adult classmates were laughing at their own mistakes, and in turn the class laughed with them. To a six-year-old, this is a difficult thing to understand. My son shared that he thought they were laughing at his classmates.  As an adult I saw it as a way to laugh at your mistakes, learn from them, and do better next time.  

 Leadership can be a tricky thing.  We all wear the leadership hat in some way or another.  I have the privilege of wearing the husband, father, and son hat as well as principal, colleague, teacher, coach hat and many others.  There are two bible verses that I share with others and work to keep in my head. Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”  The other verse is from 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” I try to think about whether my words or actions are building up or tearing down. Building each other up is one component of leadership.  I pray at the end of the day that the Lord uses us to show and share with everyone the love that He has shown us by building others up. We are all leaders for Christ. As you serve the Lord, I pray that He uses your leadership to build up and encourage one another, so they may see and know the Lord of all.  

 We are blessed to have a Real, Present, God in our lives.     

Mr. Scott Dixon