Forty-four years down memory lane of Ghana, a leader was ousted from power and so many years after that dreadful day the court of the conscience of posterity has exonerated him. In our generation he is hailed as the African of the century. What kind of leadership did he offer his nation? And what mark has he left that the entire African continent salutes him? He must have really led generously.
One look at our public institutions, right from political, academic, social and even the church, it is crystal clear that the kind of servant-leadership Brother Jesus emulated and exhibited is nowhere to be found these days. If we classify some animals are endangered species then this kind of Jesus leadership is an endangered one and almost out of extinction.
People are no more willing to go through the mill. The Law of Process that the Holy Bible espouses and propounds which in my own words can be simplified as: “Between the promise and the Promised Land, there is always a wilderness” has lost its bearing and taste in this era.
Lots of Wanna-Be leaders do not want to go though the wilderness experience but they want to be at the top forgetting that the top is lonely and boring at times since the average man glories and wallows in being a mediocre and is afraid of responsibilities.
The wilderness experience I have come to know takes you through lots of challenges that at the end sharpen both your intellectual and physical skills. Collin Powell the one-time Secretary of State of the United States of America and the first African-American to have ascended such a great height in the United States political system is alluded with the saying that his scariest thing to him as a former US five-general is to see a general who has all the military medals and accolades with no scar. After going through the wilderness experience, the wilderness graduate does not see his/her scar as a sign of defeat but rather a sign of the resilience and strength that success instills in its students.
It also stimulates into its students the discipline, handwork, patience, commitment, loyalty, altruism, integrity, optimism, resilience and tenacity that they would eventually come to uphold, esteem and cherish. These traits which are consciously and unconsciously imprinted on the mind and heart of the individual become a value that he/she will forever respect. It is on the wings of these values that the wilderness graduate glides to surmount any unforeseeable obstacle or hindrance. It is these values that will erode the fear of the future, the competition of the seen and unseen and expose the nakedness of false evidence appearing real.
Through the wilderness experience one learns the skill of dependence and interdependence and cultivates the compassion and willingness to be altruistic. These qualities will in the future help him/her to be remembered by both loved-ones and critics. With these qualities, he/she will be able to leave foot-prints on the shores of the heart of those he/she served and led and fulfill the unspoken mantra:our lives are measured by the number of lives we touch.
Finally, the wilderness helps its graduate to find their passion in life. It is said that in ancient Greece, when somebody dies, they do not write an obituary. They ask a simple question: Did he have Passion?Jeremiah also known as the “Weeping Prophet” captures it perfectly when he says that “Your word is like fire shut within my bones”, that is the best definition I have ever come across for Passion. It is what keeps you going when everything refuses to barge. It is what will place you before the King. The Holy Bible says that “Have you seen the man who is diligent in what he does (Talent), he shall appear before Kings”. That is where Passion places you. Passion is what keeps you awake when the whole world is fast asleep and snoring. It is what wakes you from your sleep and slumber when everyone around you is frail and slumbering.
Passion is what makes you clear the over-grown field when your compatriots are sitting aloof. It is what will make you build the broken walls like Nehemiah when you are pierced on both sides by detractors and saboteurs. Following your Passion is what the Designer and Great Architect created you for. This is the only weapon you have to put either a smile on the face of God or a frown. This is the only song that can make the King of Kings with His Hosts of Angels give you a standing ovation and the applause of heaven.
Today, I go into life with a new perspective and confidence, that everything I go through is part of the wilderness experience. It is only the University of Life that gives its students a second chance. It keeps failing you till you are able to pass its tests and trials. It is the only University that has set its principles so right that when you fail to uphold and leave by the principles they break you. There are therefore no short-cuts to passing its trials and tests.
I am forever a student of life and am willing to go through the challenges it has for me to test my character and competence. Character I have come to know is who I am when no one is looking. It is what the angels present before my Maker when am in His bosom.
Let us as leaders and Wanna-Be leaders look into life fixing our gaze on the author and finisher of our faith who led an exemplary life as a servant-leader and humbly and dutifully touched the lives of many of which we are examples.
Let us know as leaders and Wanna-Bes that “what we do today echoes through eternity and posterity will either immortalize us or incarcerate us in the dungeons of eternity!!”
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