Vessel of Clay

  According to the Oxford Dictionary, compassion is defined as “a strong feeling of sympathy for people or animals who are suffering and a desire to help them.” But what if being a compassionate leader goes beyond a feeling? What if it’s more than just helping those in distress? As a counsellor, empathy and sympathy are the greatest tools I use to connect with my patients and to put myself in their shoes. But as a human being, these tools have their limitations. Sometimes, my patients' situations go beyond what I can comprehend, or I simply don’t have the capacity to carry their emotional burdens. This can leave me feeling unequipped to help them—or worse, feeling merely sorry for them. And that’s a hard pill to swallow. But over time, and with practice, I have learned to see my patients beyond their issues. Through consistent counselling experience, I have come to understand how to develop treatment plans that align with what they might be going through. The end goal is to hel...

  [41] When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. [42] So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt [43] but among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, [44] and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. [45] For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Mark 10:41-45 NLT   Isn’t it shocking that Jesus responded to His disciples by stating that the greatest leader must be a servant—or even a slave to others? I can only imagine how these words sounded to them, especially when their desire was to attain high honors alongside Jesus. Yet, here He was, introducing a leadership model unlike anything they had ever known—one that seemed almost foolish and completely contrary to what they were used to.  ...

  I gave my life to Christ at a very young age, and I could say I grew up in church. However, in my early twenties, I began to lose my passion for Christ. Salvation had become just a box I checked. Deep down, I longed for more than merely attending Sunday service. In His mercy, God sent incredible leaders into my life. Through them, I discovered what had been missing for my growth: discipleship a.k.a the missing piece.   Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV).    In this passage, we see Jesus giving instructions to His disciples to go into nations to make disciples. They had been with Him, witnessing His miracles, observing how He hand...

  I used to think leadership was for people who were gifted with public speaking (a.k.a. the gift of talking), those comfortable with the pulpit, or those in positions of power and it made sense to me.  In my understanding, leadership was for the qualified, not for people like me who preferred to stay behind the scenes and didn’t like speaking in front of others. But guess what? Today, despite my shyness and fear of crowds, I am a leader.   Growing up, I was a quiet and shy child. I didn’t play much with other kids and was content being by myself. I always had one or two close friends, at most. High school is usually the time when people start forming groups, but I never liked the idea of constantly engaging with a group of people. What would happen instead is that my best friend would pull me into her group. In other words, I would walk in her shadow. I was a good follower, but I never wanted to be a leader.  By now, you have pro...