Healthy Leadership In The Midst of War

Five-year-olds are drawn to stories with clear heroes and villains. They need the stories that have clear delineation between the good guys and the bad guys. Their brains cannot handle nuance, and we all understand this. So we write children’s books with overly simplistic narratives, neatly dividing everything into two piles: good and bad, right and wrong.

By around age fifteen, however, we begin to see the world’s contradictions. Teenagers notice the hypocrisies and tensions but don’t yet know how to hold them. In response, they often swing toward relativism, rejecting the idea of truth altogether and deciding that everyone’s a hypocrite, everyone’s a liar, and there is nothing good. They lean impulsively toward a narrative that smells of a youthful nihilism.

Here’s the thing. In the midst of stress, people often revert to that five-year-old perspective. It’s quite common. For those who are in a teenager stage of growth (literally or symbolically), they will quickly revert to the needs and impulses of the 5-year-old storylines. Even those who are farther down the road in their growth to maturity, but have shallow roots, will also find themselves sliding back into overly simplistic, binary narratives in order to feel in control.

Some leaders recognize this and actually use this to their benefit. I’ve seen church leaders use this tactic, as well as political leaders. They know that a simple “good versus bad” story in the midst of heightened stress will appeal to a massive audience. Even those who normally see the world with nuance can find themselves sliding back to that binary mindset in high stress. That’s why we’re seeing, even among many Christian leaders (and, of course, our political leaders), a return to overly simplistic, black-and-white narratives. Whether it’s their immature leadership or an intentional manipulation tactic, we cannot truthfully tell, but we do need to see this form of leadership for what it is. It’s dangerous, unhelpful, immature, and rather toxic.

Leadership is storytelling. Healthy leadership will paint the kind of story that helps people frame their experience within a larger, holistic narrative. They will trust the people to rise up into more mature ways of seeing and thinking when given the opportunity. Mature, humble leadership will cast vision with the kind of stories that remind us of our humanity… the kind of humanity that reflects the image of God. This kind of leadership will call us into open and breathable spaces; it will not try to control how people think. It will not try to shove everyone into a binary, 5-year-old perspective. It will not have a manipulative spirit containing a personal agenda.

We have all been living in a high-stress environment since the global pandemic. I’m sure many of you could point to the years leading up to 2020 as high stress as well. My prayer this morning is that we could find compassion for the 5-year old narratives that surround us, while doing our personal work to drive our roots deep into the Love of God.

As our nation has plummeted into yet another war that has frightening potential, may we find extra time in our days to meditate upon the Holy Love that flows through our veins. May we grow in our commitment to the kind of silence and solitude that helps us center our souls upon the One who birthed humanity in love, through love, and for love. And may we have eyes to see beauty in the midst of tragedy, courage to stand up for injustice in the way of Christ, and a root system that knows where to find nourishment.

My prayers are with all of you on this sobering day.

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