see around the corner

Today in our staff meeting, during our time of prayer, one of our pastors was praying for our church and for our ministry leaders. He prayed, “God, help us to see around the corner, help us to know what we should do”. The “seeing around the corner” idea really resonated with me and I started thinking about how important this concept is to leaders.

I remember, as a kid, really wanting one of those cool secret agent look-around-the corner telescopes. I think they utilized a mirror and a couple of lenses so that you could stand at a corner and peer around at whatever was, otherwise, out of sight. I never got one of those telescopes but really didn’t need it anyway – I probably would have gotten into trouble with it. But man, could I use a leadership scope today that would do that?!

The art of anticipation is a valuable gift that effective leaders carefully develop. How much grief could we spare ourselves if we could know in advance what to do and how to do it? Think about it: if you had known last year how this year would shape up, what would you have done differently back then, what decisions would you have made that may have impacted what is happening right now?

This is a good prayer for leaders: “God, help us see around the corner. And help us to trust You even when we can’t see what’s on the other side.”