The Leadership Quality of Communication: Mementos Help Us to Remember God’s Work

That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you? Joshua 4:6 Effective leaders look for ways to use the successes of today to empower their people for the challenges of tomorrow. Every year, Martha and I hold a social event at our home called “Giving Thanks.” The idea of the social is that everyone will bring one memento, as a symbol of something they are thankful for, to share with everyone present as to how God has done a special work in their life during that past year. It is a great time of transparent sharing and everyone is encouraged and their spirits lifted by the end of the sharing. In the Bible, Joshua did something similar. Although God would work a miracle to allow the people to cross the Jordan on dry ground, Joshua knew that only those who saw the incident would remember it – and he wanted to leave a legacy for future generations, born long after the miracle had occurred. Joshua wanted to find a way to communicate God’s greatness to the children of Israel yet to be born. To accomplish his goal, Joshua devised a plan called “Stones of Remembrance.” He directed that 12 stones be taken from the middle of the dry riverbed – one for each of the Twelve Tribes that crossed the river – and be piled as a monument on the shore. Thereafter, whenever Israel’s’ children or grandchildren asked, “What do these stones mean?” the people would have an opportunity to recast God’s vision and recount God’s victories. The stones served as mementos to communicate what God had done. God leaders always provide mementos to help enable their people to grab hold of the vision. Effective leaders fins a ways to communicate future vision and past victories, because their people need to be constantly reminded of both. Are you an effective leader who provides symbols as reminders to your people of the vision and the past victories? Truth@Life can help you, regardless of your location. Call 248-396-6255 or email me at curtis.songer@gmail.com for a free consultation. If you receive value from these blogs, please consider donating to keep this blog site up and running. This ministry cannot continue without the generous donations of its readers. Just click on the "Donate" button in the upper right. For more info on help I can provide check out http://truthatlife.com/ or email me directly at curtis.songer@gmail.com