Hinged on Community

Almost a year ago a friend of mine lent me a book from her personal library.  I owe her for not having returned it by now, but I owe her more for the insight and challenge its been to me since recently picking it back up and working through the first couple of chapters.

The book is called Quitter, and it's written by Jon Acuff.  As I'm reading it, I can see some parallelism with the Leadership coursework of my MBA.  The book narrates, rather comically, the notion of following your dreams, but also mitigating risk. 

I'm currently in the second chapter, and Acuff talks about "hinge moments", as opportunities to look into your past and see the moments that differentiate your passions and skills.  Through the process of discovery, you can uncover, rather than discover, what life's work may look like for you.

In the discovery of his own hing moments, Acuff asks 5 questions-
1. What do I love enough to do for free?
2. What do I do that causes time to feel different?
3. What do I enjoy doing regardless of the opinions of other people?
4. If only your life changed would that be enough?
5. Are there any patterns in the things you like doing?

Amidst these questions he says-
"If you killed yourself for years creating something and at the end of the experience, the only life that had changed was your own, would that be rewarding enough?  If the experience was the lesson and the journey itself was the reward, would that be okay with you?  If there something that holds that sway for you"?

I do love the idea of intrinsic motivation and the value of each one's journey.  I departed from the idea of a destination a long time ago.  However, the first question seemed to alienate me a bit, but I think that's driven by my passion for community.  Christ calls us to community, and if I'm living a life that only affected my own, to me that seems disjointed from purpose.  However, that does highlight the hinge for me is absolutely driven by the sense of community- my life's work is driven by my passion for inclusion, for representation of the "least of these", and doing it in a way that encourages everyone to get involved.  Not just the usual suspects of philanthropy.  We all have a role to play in developing community and quality of life is an extension of love for one's neighbor.

As I continue to seek God's calling and continue my life's journey, I sense community and leadership will continue to be a prevailing theme.  With that comes the weight and responsibilities of leadership, but thankfully, in community that weight is never something one we must bear alone.