Every leader’s soul shapes how he or she leads. The question is, “Is your soul healthy?” I recently read Lance Witt’s new book, Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul.
Witt addresses a host of topics from detoxing your soul, to sustaining a lifetime of health, to building healthy teams. He helps leaders to put life and ministry in perspective. He tackles the distractions that so often derail leaders and offers practical insight to cultivate a healthy interior life.
There are so many great takeaways from this book. I highly recommend you read it. Rather than doing a full review, I thought I would simply highlight some of my favorite quotes. Enjoy!
“A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what’s going on inside of himself or herself…lest the act of leaderhsip create more harm than good.” Quaker Author Parker Palmer
“When leaders neglect their interior life, they run the risk of prostituting the sacred gift of leadership.”
“Never lose sight of the fact that the box (your ministry) is not as valuable as the gift (Jesus). And the only reason the box exists is to deliver the gift. You have dedicated your life to the gift, not to the box.”
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”
“Looking back I realize there’s a correlation between my communion with God and my courage for God. The deeper my intimacy the greater my tenacity to stand courageously.”
“We have to ask ourselves, ‘Am I raelly trying to discern God’s will, or determine whether I want to do it?'” Erwin McManus
“In some ways, courage is a matter of trust. Do I trust that if I do what’s right, he will have my back?”
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” Mother Teresa
These are just a handful of great thoughts…there are so many more. If you find yourself feeling burned out, frazzled by ministry, or simply needing to refresh your soul, read this book. You won’t be disappointed.