The "Krypton" of Leadership

As a leader you possess the created capacity and responsibility to be generous as God is generous, dispensing the sacrificial generosity of God to those around you by being supremely and wastefully generous with your time, talent, and treasure.

Supreme generosity is at the very core of your nature! Generous is an attribute that God gave to you. You were created to be gloriously – even wastefully – generous. It is part of your created nature and divine responsibility, as a bearer of God’s image, to be supremely generous with your time, talent, and treasure.

Yes, the story of the greedy king who learned to excel in the grace of giving is a wonderful example. But what better example can be found than in the supreme, inexpressible generosity of God, the King of Kings? Supreme generosity is at the very core of God’s nature.

God the Father generously created and sustains the universe.

God the Son generously gave His life that you might live an eternally abundant life.

God the Holy Spirit generously equips you with divinely originated abilities that enable you to play a unique and strategic role in transforming every corner of culture for God and for good.

Supreme generosity is as the very core of your nature! Excelling in the grace giving is not an abstract, dusty, theological notion. God is exuberantly, cheerfully, and lavishly generous. God’s acts of generosity are transformative. God’s generosity is real. God’s generosity changes things. God loves to give.

In his masterful collection of daily devotional poems, The Diary of an Old Soul, the Victorian poet, novelist, and Christian fantasy writer, George MacDonald (1824 – 1905), described God’s generosity as “gloriously wasteful.” In his poem for March 2, MacDonald wrote, “Gloriously wasteful, O my Lord, art Thou.” [i]

God created you to be gloriously and wastefully generous. The generosity of your time, talent, and treasure also changes things. In fact, in the final analysis, it may be the only thing that ever changes things. And like the greedy king, you too will learn that you are the true benefactor of your own generosity. Like the greedy king, you, too, will experience great joy and fulfillment as you learn to excel in the grace of giving.

Furthermore, God takes great joy and delight in watching His people cheerfully and lavishly – even wastefully – bestow gifts of their time, talent, and treasure in changing people and the world about them. God gives cheerfully and loves those who cheerfully give. When you are generous, you fill the earth with the glory of God.

Generosity is the “krypton” of leadership. The element krypton, appearing on the periodic chart of elements is, basically, an inert chemical. But, when used in fluorescent bulbs, krypton makes the light whiter and brighter. When used in laser lights, krypton makes them more powerful and precise. Like the element krypton, rich generosity lights up leadership – leadership that separates and distinguishes great leaders from good leaders. Great leaders excel in the transformative, wasteful generosity of their time, talent, and treasure.

You are generous.

You are a leader.

This is the truth about leadership.

This is the Genesis Principle of Leadership.

Now go out and brighten the world with your generosity!

[i] MacDonald, George, The Diary of an Old Man: 366 Writings for Devotional Reflection, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, Minneapolis, 1994.

LEADERS ARE GLORIOUSLY AND WASTEFULLY GENEROUS

What makes you deeply joyful - giving or taking?

As a leader you possess the created capacity and responsibility to be generous as God is generous, dispensing the sacrificial generosity of God to those around you by being supremely and wastefully generous with your time, talent, and treasure.

And how is it that this person has never given me one of her quilts?

In their beautiful, award-winning, picture book, The Quiltmaker’s Gift, [i] Jeff Brumbeau and Gail de Marcken tell the enchanting story of a very powerful and greedy king who, with the help of a little old quiltmaker, learned how to excel in the grace of giving.

In fact, this king was good, very good, at being greedy. Every Christmas and every birthday (which he celebrated twice each year) the king demanded that his subjects lavish astonishingly beautiful and magical gifts upon him.

Oh how the king loved his possessions!

He kept an accurate and detailed inventory of each one. From top to bottom, every nook and cranny of his castle was filled with the magnificent gifts he had received.

But the king was not happy.

He never smiled.

He was never satisfied.

He kept looking for that one perfect gift that would finally make him happy.

One day the king learned about a quiltmaker who lived in her little cottage in the mountains – high above the clouds. Throughout the world, people said that this quiltmaker made the brightest and prettiest quilts that anyone had ever seen.

Curiously, though, she never sold her quilts. People came from all over the world with pockets full of money to buy her magnificent quilts. Yet, no matter how hard they tried. She would not sell even one. No amount of gold or silver could change her mind. Instead, she always took her quilts to the town and gave them to the downtrodden and homeless. Then she would start another, and then another, only to give each one away.

The king demanded one of these magnificent quilts.

And how is it that this person has never given me one of her quilts? he bellowed.

But the quiltmaker refused. Several times the king threatened her. But again and again the quiltmaker refused. On one occasion the king threw the quiltmaker into the cave of a hungry bear. On another occasion the king placed her on a tiny, deserted island. Still, the quiltmaker refused to give the king one of her extraordinary quilts.

Eventually, in desperation, the king shouted, I give up! What must I do for you to give me a quilt?

In response, the quiltmaker finally promised to make the king a quilt, on one condition. He had to give away everything he owned to the poor. The king was stunned. Give away everything? Every one of his treasured gifts? What an absurd idea! The king dearly loved each and every one of his gifts. How could he possibly give them away? How could he even give one?

But finally, he gave in. He began ever so slowly at first. Starting with his smaller treasures, the king gave them away one by one. To his astonishment, he began to experience pleasure – not in receiving gifts – but in giving them away. Little by little he began to smile – and even laugh as he emptied his castle.

Soon his happiness turned into a deep, satisfying joy.

Even so, he could not understand how it was possible that he could experience such happiness by giving away his treasured possessions. But soon, the king was giving away his gifts by the wagonload.

He excelled in the grace of giving, becoming overwhelmed with inexpressible joy.

It took years for the king to give away everything. He went everywhere. He gave everyone he saw a gift. Soon there was not a person in his kingdom who had not received a gift from him. What joy filled his soul as he traded his treasures for smiles!

Finally, tired, tattered, and torn, the weary king returned home – poor – with holes in the toes of his boots. He had traveled all over the world giving away his treasures. Nevertheless, his eyes glittered with joy and his laugh had grown wonderful and thunderous. At last, he was happy.

Though poor, he felt like he was the richest person in the world.

The king kept his promise to the quiltmaker. He gave every one of his beautiful gifts away. And the quiltmaker kept her promise to the king and gave him one of the most beautiful quilts she had ever made. You see, the quiltmaker also kept her promise to herself – giving her quilts only to the poor. She stayed true to her calling; she excelled in the grace of giving.

Curiously, the king returned to the town only to give away his beautiful quilt to one he found shivering in the cold of night. The quiltmaker continued to make her magnificent quilts. From time to time the king would go to the quiltmaker’s little cottage high above the clouds and at night, take them down to the town, and give them to the poor and downtrodden.

As this wonderful parable ends, it is said that the king was ...never happier than when he was giving something away.

So - I ask you again - what makes you deeply and satisfyingly joyful? Giving? Taking?

You see, glorious and wasteful generosity is a mark of the effective leader!

You are generous.

You are a leader.

This is the truth about leadership.

This is the Genesis Principle of Leadership.

[i] Brumbeau, Jeff and De Marcken, Gail, The Quiltmaker’s Gift, Scholastic Press, 2001.