Andrew Ripp sings a song called simply, "Roses." The chorus of this song is as haunting as it is powerful.
He must've known about the heartbreak long before us; He must've known about the mistakes, still He chose us; Planted the tree where He would die; Put thorns down the vine, and then He wore them; And love is the blood red stain, the beauty that the pain exposes; Maybe that's why God made roses. [Andrew Ripp - Roses (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube]
Think about that for a minute, Servant Leader. Mediate not on the lyrics, but the meaning behind them.
God planted the tree that He knew we would crucify Him on - yet still He planted it deliberately. God created the rosebush with thorns to protect the beauty of the flower knowing that we would fashion it into a blasphemous crown and pierce His brow with it - yet still He deliberately protected the rosebush with thorns.
That's how we should approach our business, Servant Leader. God weighed the risks that we would reject Him when He gave us free will, yet He gave it to us deliberately knowing He would again have to be our salvation. The cross and the thorns were no accident - He made them deliberately.
And that's our challenge every day, Servant Leader. Our responsibility to our teams, our staffs, our supervisors, is to be deliberate. We don't vacillate. We don't "fall into" decisions. We don't flip a coin, roll dice, or play games of chance with our responsibilities. And we don't value ourselves above those within our charge or to whom we report. We make deliberate decisions every day to serve them - and we stand by those decisions even when it involves thorns.
So, be deliberate, Servant Leader. After all, if God can have the foresight to plant the tree for us to crucify Him, we can make deliberate decisions to serve those around us.
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