Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Significant Contributions

“The most significant contribution leaders make is not simply to today’s bottom line; it is to the long term development or people and institutions so they can adapt, change, prosper and grow.”

From the book “Leadership Challenge” by Kouzes and Ponser


The contributions we make in life many times have purposes and results that go far beyond what we see in the here and now. Many of the important issues of our personal lives have been influenced by the contributions of people many generations back. If your great grandfather had not married your great grandmother, you wouldn’t even be here. Many of the great works of art in the world today were contributions by artists who did not live to see that their work would be acclaimed as a masterpiece by the world. I read this week of a church that made a commitment to have a prayer meeting at a particular time every week for one hundred years. History shows that that church recorded more impact than any other in that area. The founders of that contribution had long been gone but their investment was still paying off. There will no doubt be things that my children and grandchildren will have and do because of investments made by us today. The key to this value is long term vision. My integrity today is of great importance to my great great grandchildren who I will never meet this side of heaven. John the Revelator wrote about long term vision:

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
~~~~~~~~~~~~REVELATION 21:10~~~~~~~~~~~~

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