Front Line Assignment
Posted Thu, 03/10/2011 - 1:00am by Dr. Carolyn Tennant
Read 2 Samuel 23:8-12.
It had been a difficult month. Changes were occurring, and people were feeling insecure about them. Nobody likes the shaking up that change always brings, and I, as the leader, was taking the brunt of it.
Sitting in a colleague's office, I was unloading my frustrations. I had to talk to somebody, and John was always insightful. He listened to me carefully and patiently that day. Then he said something that changed my life.
"You have a choice, you know." He looked at me with his chin up a bit and a challenge in his eyes. "If you don't like it in the front line, then get back in the ranks."
He was quiet then and let the full impact of the choice fall into my heart. I nodded, pressed my lips together, and gave a little sideways wave as I slipped from the room to be alone.
He was right, no doubt about that. It was the very essence of the whole situation. If I stayed with a front line assignment, I would most certainly get attacked. Not only that, the front line gets it first! I would be in the heat of the combat, taking the worst of the cannon balls and gun fire. Shrapnel would shred me. I'd be the adventurer in uncharted territory, the one taking the risk of treading on enemy mines before anyone else even knew they were there. I'd feel the responsibility for those coming behind me.
So then, what was my choice? I really didn't like the option of staring at someone else's shoulder blades. There wasn't enough adventure to that. I just wasn't the kind of person to play it safe and risk getting bored. Some how did it happen anyway? I knew I really liked to explore new expanse, be able to see out, gain the perspective of a panoramic view, and make choices.
This particular choice had been made, too. I knew I couldn't be satisfied with staying in the ranks, and so I stepped back into the fray.