Changing Gears

When I was a kid I rode my bike everywhere-school, the beach, the library, my friend's house-basically anywhere I needed to go. As long as I had the energy, my local destinations were almost unlimited. My ten-speed bike wasn't fancy, but it fit my needs. While riding I very rarely changed gears, but just relied on my legs to power me down the road. I suppose that I could have made it easier on myself now and then if I switched gears, but I was usually just focused on the ride and not so much on changing speeds.

Life doesn't operate at one speed either. Different seasons place different demands on energy, personal focus, creative thought, and community interaction. There are circumstances that call for an increased work load and investment in other people. If we learn to develop different gears of leadership we can make these times flow more smoothly. If we aren't able to do this we find ourselves expending tremendous amounts of energy to find success when there are more efficient ways to get things done. It's the principle of adjusting to the pace of life and being able change gears when necessary. Otherwise we'll exhaust ourselves trying to keep up.