Holding 'em Loosely

Dr. Cecil Clements
Duration: 13:51 (Compressed for the Internet)

I was looking back over my life, reminiscing, something I do every now and then, looking back at things that have happened in my life and remember either significant things or memories or people. This time I was thinking about people who were instrumental in showing me how to go through life. Three people came to mind for a very particular purpose in my life and I want to share them with you, tell you how they shaped me.

The first was the President of a college that I attended many years ago. The college was part of a chain of colleges, the board of which had decided to give it a year and if attendance and scholarships and finances didn’t come in, they would have to close it down. The President of the college worked so hard, he was all over the place getting admissions to come up, managed to get endowments that brought in more finances, really brought that college up to a point where it was no longer losing money. Then he went for a board meeting where everyone in the college was holding their breath because it was a decisive moment whether they were going to continue or shut the college. But everyone was confident that they would keep it going because of what he had done. When the news filtered back that, despite of all the efforts and finances that had increased, the board had taken the decision to shut it down. I was at the college at that time, and I remember meeting the President of the college off and on, and they gave to him the responsibility to dismantle the college within the year, sell off the property, the books, and material, everything that was on campus. I remember watching him and being totally amazed how there was no rancor, no bitterness in this man. What he in fact modeled to us as he went around taking decisions that would bring down everything that he had worked for. When the world is not fair, if you can still choose the attitude that you want, to weather even that kind of a storm. I have never forgotten him. In fact, one of the last things that he shut was his office and I had worked with him during that time. To this day I have a faded painting that was hanging on the wall of his office and it reminds me of this godly man who modeled that when the chips fall against you, you can still walk through life without bitterness or rancor.

The second person was a man who founded one of the best children’s organizations that I have seen. He built an orphanage and after years and years of work, getting the finances he needed for the orphanage on his knees in prayer, going to God and saying “God, this is your work. You need to bring the finances in.” He built up that orphanage with his team of good people and one day the board told him that they had no need for him. He walked away with the 2 pieces of luggage that he had. I remember meeting him soon after this happened, thinking that he must be bitter, must be looking back and thinking of the people who had done this to him. I was amazed that the only thing he said when he met me was “Go after the dream that God has placed in your heart.” That was how he spent the rest of his life – motivating people to follow the dreams that God has given to them.

The third person was a writer and also the co-founder of and organization. He donated all the material that he had to the organization and which developed material that was instrumental in changing the life of millions of people. One day at the board meeting, he was openly told that the board had no more need for him. When I heard the news, I couldn’t believe that something like that could happen to someone who had founded the organization. Yet for this man too, they had his office all packed up within 48 hours, his books in cartons, waiting for him to tell them where to send it. He walked away as well, spent some time waiting on God asking God what he should do with the next phase of his life. He said that God has still placed upon him the vision to do what he had always been doing. He started from scratch once again. But not one negative word against his detractors or the men who had done this to him. Just a new line in the sand saying that he was going to start from the bottom up.

I remembered these 3 men as I was reminiscing and I thought to myself, “So often, when things like that happen to us, we spend so much of time getting angry, wanting to get even, bitter, resentful. It begins to work in us like rust that eats into hard steel and iron; we do ourselves more harm than good. I said to myself, “How did these men do it? How did they handle life so well?”

These are some of the thoughts that came to me – 4 things that I want to share with you.

1. First I found that they held onto everything very loosely. All their achievements, their accomplishments, they didn’t allow it to get to their heads. They believed that God had placed them there for a particular time and for a particular period, to do a particular work. And when that time and that period were over, they got up and left the work that they were doing and walked away. When that time ended, however badly it was communicated to them, they were willing to move on, recognizing that God had something else in store for them. They held onto everything loosely.
2. They believed that their ultimate boss was God Himself. They were doing all the things for him and he was proactive in their work and in their life. Therefore, even in difficult times they produced excellent work because for them, they were not doing it for themselves or an institution. The work that they were doing was something they were offering to God. In the Bible, in the book of Ephesians 6:7 it says, “Do everything as unto the Lord.” And that became their motto. Everything they did, they did it for God.
3. They handled pride very well. They took pride in their work and they did it well and therefore there was quality output. But they didn’t allow themselves to get proud. They gave credit where it was due, recognizing that there were people around them who were working very hard to help them accomplish the things that they were in charge of. They gave credit but didn’t take credit for the things that they did. They didn’t hanker after credit. I remember an anonymous one-liner that has always been a motivation for me: “there’s no limit to what a man or a woman can do if he/she doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” 
4. They recognized that their success was dependant on God and the people who worked for them and with them. They never once said, “I did this all by myself.” They recognized that the divine was working with them, the Divine was holding their hands, the Divine was giving them wisdom to make decisions, to help them through difficult circumstances.

Henry and Richard Blackaby, in their book ‘Spiritual Leadership’ say this, “People who allow pride to blind them to their total dependence upon God’s grace and the support of their people, will eventually be humbled.”

Sobering words! If we allow pride to blind us to the fact that we are dependent on God’s grace and the support of people around us, eventually we will be brought down, we will be humbled.

Again in the book of Proverbs of the Bible 16:18 it says, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling.”

They held everything loosely. They believed their ultimate boss was God. They handled pride well and they recognized that they were dependent on God and the people who worked with them.

I know many of you on this call are leaders doing extremely well, successful at what you do. You are probably leaders of leaders, have huge budgets at your disposal, you are people with authority. I would say to each of you, “Pass on the lesson that I have learnt from those who I call giants. Hold loosely the things that you are able to achieve. Wherever you are, your achievements, your accomplishments, be thankful to God that he is proactive with you. Appreciate the people around you; give them credit for what they do. Be very careful of pride and how you handle it.

God Bless You All.