So I was sitting down at my laptop here in the camp office (the place I come when I really need to buckle down and get stuff done...esp. since I started today early with a meeting at Panera).
At any rate, as I was trying to figure out what to write about today, I looked out the window across the field to the dining hall. What I saw looked like smoke creeping along the slope of the roof. I immediately told myself, "No, it couldn't be smoke." And I remembered that just minutes earlier, just before the sun came out, fog had covered the area. But my eyes just couldn't believe it wasn't smoke. I walked out and stood there...for a few minutes, I think, just staring, trying to let me mind adjust to the reality that my eyes were not seeing what they thought they were. Finally, my mind finished processing and understood the fog thing (what can I say, it's early). I did step inside the dining hall for a moment though, on my way back to the office, just to be 100% sure...
I think this kind of summarizes, actually, some of the things I've been facing lately. The challenge of seeing what is really there, and not being mislead or confused by our own perceptions. For pastors this is quite difficult, because you're dealing not just with people with a whole range of perceptions about what is happening, but because of the nature of the issue involved, these perceptions are quite sacred to them.
The thing is, though, it's not enough to just let perceptions be perceptions and give up any idea that there is truth. Or reality. The fact is, what I saw on the roof was NOT smoke. It was the remnants of fog. Just because my initial perception was that it was smoke doesn't make that any more true.
It's a difficult distinction to make. Sometimes the issues we face really are just about different opinions. And in those cases, we do well to appreciate that we all come with different views of a situation. Sometimes we don't do well (well, I'll speak for myself at least)...at the whole think and let think thing.
At the same time though, sometimes we fail to stand up for what it true, what is real, in the face of that which is not. For the sake of "peace", we sacrifice our vision and create even greater confusion around us. As much as people are looking for pastors who have open minds and open hearts, many are also looking for pastors who can confront the painful realities in our lives.
I'm still quite enamored with the book Leading Through Change which comes out of the work of the Harvard Business Review folks. The book makes the distinction between facing "technical problems" and "adaptive challenges." The former are problems we basically have the solutions or skills for. They can be resolved by a small group, even just one person. But then there are adaptive challenges. These require the entire group to adopt new ways of thinking. Everyone has to give up something. Too often, the authors explain, leaders concede to the fears around them and approach adaptive challenges as if they are technical problems. You can imagine the far-reaching effects of this.
I think this touch on this challenge of seeing things clearly. Both leaders and followers are invested in the hope for easy solutions. But so often, in our very earnest hope for that, we fail to see what is right in front of us. We miss the forest for the trees.
I think I'll be looking a bit more carefully today...trying not to let my eyes deceive, but really looking to see what is happening...what is out there...because sometimes, you don't really see a thing on first glance...
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