1God, give your judgments to the king.
Give your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 Let him judge your people with righteousness
and your poor ones with justice.
3 Let the mountains bring peace to the people;
let the hills bring righteousness.
4 Let the king bring justice to people who are poor;
let him save the children of those who are needy,
but let him crush oppressors!
Reflection
Well, here we are – a week into the new year! How are you doing? I initially wrote 2025 on the top of this page. Oh well!
Our scripture is a prayer for King Solomon. We remember how wise he was. We remember the story about the two mothers who each claimed a baby as their own, and he was able to cleverly deduce the real mother. We know our leaders have great responsibility, but we also know that our leaders can disregard the very people who voted for them in the first place. A leader’s job is not to gain wealth and power for themselves. A leader’s job is to care for those people who they are responsible for, sometimes those who have nobody else to care for them.
Jesus is of course our best example of everything, but definitely an example of what a leader should be, even when others don’t recognize it. That is where we come in. As Christians we are to be leaders. Now, you may not consider yourself a leader, but there is always someone that you are showing an example to, so that is leadership. Oh, you may not be front and center on Sunday morning, (of course we need those people), but maybe you welcome new people, maybe you pick up some piece of paper that fell on the floor or replace a roll of toilet paper in the restroom. Maybe you are the first person to volunteer to drop off food for someone who is ill or maybe you volunteer to take a neighbor to an appointment or maybe you just pray for someone. Maybe you are the person in your family that others look to when there is a hard question to be answered, maybe you go and support your grandchildren or nieces or nephews at their activities or maybe you just like to support local high school sports, music, or drama and really don’t know a kid who participates, but you think it is important to show up. My point is, Jesus showed up in ways that didn’t always look like leadership in the sense we may think of it, but showing up and giving of yourself is a great way to be a leader. Others will see your example and follow it in some way that makes sense to them to help the community.
What did you decide for your star word? Mine is release. I tend to overthink conversations and problems – sometimes before they even happen. Can I release that over analyzation? Can I release control of issues to the people who really have the issues instead of taking on their issues? Can I release my anxious thoughts about issues and other people to God? Sometimes that is leadership – letting others take care of their own stuff. Walking beside and listening but not doing. Releasing can be difficult. Delegating and not controlling everything is the sign of being a good leader. Letting others develop their skills and talents to see what they can do is helpful for everyone! Leading can be active, but it can also be us setting the best example we can.
by Janet Waryck
For Pondering and Prayer
How can you use your star word to make you into a better leader in every situation in your life? And remember, being a leader may not look the same in every person or in any given circumstance. You can be a leader in every aspect of your life though by following Jesus’s teachings so others can see Jesus in your example.
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for showing us how a true leader leads – by caring for those in the margins and to be willing to do the work that may not be out in front, but is just as important to keeping things moving in the direction you would have them go. Give us wisdom as we continue to work for you. In your name we pray, amen.
