Live. Love. Lead.

     Guaranteed success?--Who does not want to walk into every meeting, event, date, relationship, etc with the mindset of "I KNOW I've got this!"      For this post success is defined as the "accomplishment of a purpose" (Google) and I would suggest "the accomplishment of His purpose."      I have recently been meditating on Numbers 13 & 14.  The quick context is God is about to take the Children of Israel into His promise.  They had been victorious over slavery and were beginning to find their freedom.  They were experiencing a physical manifestation of God's leading with the pillar of fire and cloud.  Now, God was positioning them to fully embrace His promise of the land.  The spies came back with a bad report, with the exception of two, that accentuated all the reasons why the people would not be successful in this venture.      Then Caleb speaks up, "Do not rebel against the Lord! You should...

     My school year is almost done...more importantly my rookie year as a leader is at its close.  I cannot believe how much I have learned, how much leadership was/is more than I expected, and how much inner work truly goes into this role.  The list could truly go on and on.        During a particularly trying part of this new chapter of leadership I was reading a passage in I Kings 12 that so resonated with my everyday that it truly revived my prayer life and stimulated me to act with such courage and confidence.  It was when King Solomon had just died and his son Rehoboam has stepped into his place.  The people of the successful nation that Solomon had built came to Rehoboam and essentially asked him, "How are you going to lead?"  He asks for some time and then consults with the elders that served his father.  Those elders told him to listen to the people, speak kind words to them, and become their servant.  Then ...

     A few Super Bowls ago talented quarterback Russell Wilson challenged stereotypes when he mentioned what his father had asked him as a younger athlete, "Why not you?"  Shortly, after the Super Bowl I used that same question to help empower and motivate my students toward greater academic success.  I expected them to believe me and get fired up on the inside and begin tackling challenges with the goal of winning.  But why does empowerment sound so good and so believable when it is coming out of my mouth to someone else; yet not as believable when it is coming out of my mouth to myself?      I am in the process of submitting my first proposal to do something that I have dreamed of doing for a long time...speaking on what I know and do best--education.  Everything in me kept reminding me of what I lack and what I need to do in order to live my dream.  "Brandy, you need to get your doctorate before you do something like this." "Bra...