{"id":471,"date":"2018-11-22T12:25:27","date_gmt":"2018-11-22T20:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/?p=471"},"modified":"2018-11-23T22:46:32","modified_gmt":"2018-11-24T06:46:32","slug":"re-to-dawn-light-from-many-lamps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/2018\/11\/22\/re-to-dawn-light-from-many-lamps\/","title":{"rendered":"RE to Dawn: Light from Many Lamps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dawn, than you for your well written\u00a0post<\/a> on Frederic Loomis’ reflection. I found this reading and the quote really impactful. Loomis states,<\/p>\n

“The best medicine is to stop thinking about yourself, and start thinking about other people” (Watson, 1951, p. 223).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

DawnES (2018) stated in summary of Loomis’ reflection,<\/p>\n

“In reflection on his deathbed, Dr. Frederick Loomis determined that though we may struggle through life and in death, there is little fruit that comes from being obsessed with our own woes [Blog post]. Rather, it is to our benefit and development\u00a0 to “stop thinking about [our]selves, and start thinking about other people. [We] can lighten our load by doing something for someone else” (Watson, 1951, p. 224 as quoted by DawnES, 2018 [Blog post] ).<\/p>\n

Personally, I have seen firsthand and experience the consequences of how the prevalent cultural mantra of “you do you”, “whatever makes you happy” or “find yourself” can build people into thinking they are the “centres of the universe” and that “the world revolves around them.” When this belief gets taken to extremes and\/or faces pressure of difficult circumstances, what oozes out is the belief that “others needs are not important” and people’s dignity and self-worth are affected negatively. When a leader behaves in this way, the cost is great on both them and those who they lead.<\/p>\n

Loomis’ antidote is “to stop thinking about yourself, and start thinking about other people” (Watson, 1941, p. 223). Though I believe this is the beginning of change, the process is more complex and difficult. Additionally, it is a road that many people do not walk, even though they know it is the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

I appreciate the question DawnES (2018) posed and would like to answer it by sharing what I think is most important; her question was:<\/p>\n

“As a servant leader, what does this mean for me to focus on others with authentic love to facilitate forgiveness and healing in their lives” [Blog post]?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What comes to mind when DawnES (2018), mentioned “authentic love” is the phrase, “love God, love others”[Blog post]. This is a famous Christian paraphrase from Jesus’ great commandment. The greatest commandment is found in Mark 12:30-31 (New International Version) where Jesus states,<\/p>\n

” “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself, there is no commandment greater than these.”\u00a0 “<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another way Jesus stated this commandment was in John 13:34-35 (English Standard Version):<\/p>\n

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Personally, I think the truths in these statements from the Bible is the only complete antidote “To stop thinking about yourself, and start thinking about other people”\u00a0(Watson, 1941, p. 224).\u00a0 Loomis states bluntly, “snap out of it” and though this is the essential beginning of someone realizing something needs to change,\u00a0 I think that the actual changing of a person to authentically and purely think of “others before themselves” is only when they have a greater perspective on the situation and only when the power for that change comes from an “outside source”\u00a0(Watson, 1941, p. 224). I say this, not only because I have belief in the Christian faith, but because in pure reasoning; from both observation of the world and from personal experience, I see a broken world and the brokenness of my own soul. I know I am a flawed and limited human being. In me there is only so much love to give and the ability to love unconditionally is very difficult and additionally based upon history, family upbringing and my own ability to accept love that is in my life.<\/p>\n

In regards to true authentic love, I have only experienced that kind of love when I have known an “outside source”, that is already perfect love, imparted to me. I cannot create that love in myself, just as I cannot create something that I do not have. I think all of us know deep down, that we do not have or give the kind of love that we wish we could, we know our own brokenness and our twisted motives. When we start “to snap out of it”, that is the beginning of either continuing to try and dig this love up in our lives for others, potentially at the detriment to our own well-being, or realize that there is a perfect love beyond us that we can know through relationship with Jesus (Watson, 1941, p. 224). Jesus contains and states a love that is capable of loving others in a healthy way; first, receiving and having God’s love through relationship with Jesus; second, through this love learning to love yourself with the right perspective; third, then “loving your neighbour as yourself.” Interestingly Jesus does not say in Mark 12:30-31 (New International version), “love you neighbour above yourself”, he says, love them “as yourself”, this is a healthy love, to think of others with having a healthy and whole view of how you are loved, your limitations, but also your infinite value to God and how your relationship with Him allows that love to outpour onto others.\u00a0 Jesus’ love for others is pure, true and good; it is others centred, without deprecating one’s own dignity and has no limitations. The danger with applying Loomis’ antidote, without the right perspective or the right source of love is a self-deprecating love, which leaves you without dignity or value, and as a result leaves you feeling burnt out and used. This is not healthy love or “authentic love”.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I think with this healthy kind of love, that still puts others first, we can truly bring healing and forgiveness to those we lead.<\/div>\n

Monica<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

DawnES. (2018, November 17). Unit 8-Light from many lamps. [Blog post]. Retrieved from\u00a0https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/2018\/11\/17\/unit-8-light-from-many-lamps\/<\/p>\n

Watson, L.E. (1951).\u00a0Light from Many Lamps.<\/em> New York: Simon and Schuster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dawn, than you for your well written\u00a0post on Frederic Loomis’ reflection. I found this reading and the quote really impactful. Loomis states, “The best medicine is to stop thinking about yourself, and start thinking about other people” (Watson, 1951, p. 223). DawnES (2018) stated in summary of Loomis’ reflection, “In reflection on his deathbed, Dr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":445,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-light-from-many-lamps","category-unit-9","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}