WELL-ROUNDED

It has taken me nearly 50 years to get comfortable in my own skin. It's kind of a shame it has taken that long, seeing that my life is more than half over now. Maybe. My great-grandmother lived to be very nearly 110 years old, so maybe I'm not halfway done yet.

I've always made it a value of mine to try to be a well-rounded person - to be 'good' at most everything I attempt. I don't know that I've succeeded in that, but I've tried. Now, finally, I realize - at 49.5 years old - if you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything. Even though society encourages that well-rounded thing, that approach inadvertantly breeds mediocrity. So maybe the biggest misconception of all is that of the well-rounded leader.

Churches seem to want their leaders to be great servants, deep thinkers, Billy Graham preachers, visionaries, electricians, life-of-the-party, Gucci models, university professor teachers, carpenters, judges, wise counselors, athletes, all-around fun guys, etc. etc. etc. All necessary and desirable attributes for an organization to succeed -- well, SOME of them are. But of all the leaders out there, I have yet to find one that has world-class strength in all the important, critical areas. The ironic thing is that those who strive to be competent in all areas become the least effective leaders overall.

So get comfortable with what God has put in your skin and develop that stuff. Don't worry about being 'well-rounded.'

And be blessed.