Advent and Waiting For God

December 22, 2007 | Filed Under georges boujakly, leadership |

soul-at-work.jpgMy friend Georges Boujakly shared the following newsletter article from Margaret Benefiel, author of Soul At Work and Founder of Executive Soul. Benefiel writes that Advent ought to be a season for waiting and looking for what God is doing. She writes:

Advent is about waiting for God, looking for the new thing that God is doing. Advent holds a lesson for all of us in this busy world, especially organizational leaders.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like waiting, thank you very much. Like most of the people around me, I tend to rush from one thing to another in my busy life. When the bank puts me on hold during a phone call, or when I find myself stuck in a long line at the post office, I get impatient.

This season leading up to Christmas is Advent, a season of waiting for Christians around the world. What’s the point of a season of waiting?

A season of waiting is countercultural, particularly in the West. In the business world, leaders and managers are rewarded for making quick decisions. Taking too much time to make decisions is seen as wasteful; in the business world, time is money. Yet at least half of managerial decisions fail, often because the decision-maker didn’t wait, didn’t weigh the decision wisely. Studies show that time pressure, the perceived need to appear decisive, and unrealistic expectations of superiors and subordinates are the causes of this failure.

Advent is about waiting for God, listening to God, looking for the new thing that God is doing. Advent holds a lesson for all of us in this busy world, especially organizational leaders. What would it look like to wait, to incarnate the lesson of Advent in one’s daily work life?

Bob Carlson, retired co-CEO of Reell Precision Manufacturing, a Minnesota manufacturer of hinges and clutches, finds that he needs regularly scheduled, spiritually nurturing time away to be at his best. Walking in nature, listening to music, and attending worship services help to keep him nurtured and centered for his leadership role. Without the “down” time of waiting and being open, he finds that he’s not his best self as a leader and decision-maker.

Genny Nelson, co-founder of Sisters of the Road, a café for the homeless in Portland, Oregon, spends her “down” time journaling. She also takes time out to pray at the downtown chapel, one her favorite places in the neighborhood. These practices help her to stop and wait, giving her perspective on the challenges she faces, and helping her to cultivate a calm and open inner disposition. She finds that her decisions are better as a result.

The next time I’m feeling tense and irritable while waiting, I will stop and breathe and remember the lesson of Advent. Bob Carlson and Genny Nelson make better organizational decisions because they are able to wait, and to be open. May we all learn from them.

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