***Spoiler Alert – this post may fall under the category of TMI for some of you, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.
I don’t mean to brag, but I have always had a pretty keen since of smell. I could always tell when momma was cookin’ something up in the kitchen or when someone got a new cologne, even when they were a long way off. I’m not sure why, but God has given me this incredible gift (*sarcasm). Unfortunately with this gift comes a darkside. I have also always been very sensitive to negative odors as well, especially body odor (henceforth referred to as “b.o.”). This probably stems from a traumatizing experience I suffered in 7th grade gym, but I digress.
Over the last couple weeks, about 1 or 2 in the afternoon, I can tell I’m starting to smell pretty ripe. I’m not sure what the deal is, but the best I can figure is that my deodorant is no longer up to the task. I have been using the same brand since 8th grade and it’s always performed admirably for me. Someone once told me though that your body can actually immunize to certain brands of deodorant and render it ineffective. I’m guessing that’s what’s happening in my case.
Now, if I decided to push through and continue to use it anyway, even though it was ineffective, well, not only would that be pretty ridiculous, but I would soon begin losing friends.
In leadership, you sometimes run across something that stinks like that, especially in the church world. We are notorious for continuing ineffective programs and processes just because we’ve been doing them for a long time (i.e. since 8th grade). Not only that, but personally there may be patterns, behaviors, relationships, attitudes, sins, etc. that we have been doing for a long time that continue to produce negative (or stinky) results, yet we continue to do them anyway, expecting something different to happen.
I heard a leader say this recently (regarding church systems, but it applies across the board) and it really struck me, “If your church has a system that keeps failing you need to do something about it. It’s like a baby. You can keep changing the baby’s diapers, or you can potty train the baby.”
What change do you need to make? What are you in charge of that needs to improve? Blessings on your search for a new scent.
