Perhaps it’s a youngest child syndrome, or a lack of self-confidence garnered from several years of working from home, but the truth is, I am in need of a leader.  You know, somebody to show me how to live, to confirm all of my choices, to egg me on to take the bravest step.  Even when I’m deliberating over the tiniest decision, I look for guidance.  Funnily enough though, when advice is offered, nine times out of ten I actually ignore it.

I was thinking today about all the people whose wisdom I have respected and tried to follow over the years, and realised, with sadness, that many of them are not around any more.  This is a hard fact of life: the great leaders will fall, and spaces are left.  At what age or stage do we stop following and start leading?  (Incidentally, I have heard people saying of twenty year olds they have not taken time to get to know, ‘Oh, they have no life experience’, and it slightly bothers me because I have met teenagers who have seen more of ‘life’ than some sixty year olds.)

I know that some are gifted to lead and some gracious enough to follow, but still I think that we are called to draw wisdom from our experiences and humbly share it with others, should they ask.  We can’t all be sitting waiting for somebody to tell us what to do when our lives are half lived already.  So, what has life taught you?  Use that to inform how you respond to everything and everybody else that come close to you, and maybe, just maybe, you will help some-one who feels as lost as you do.