The following is an excerpt from The Creator’s and my book, Talking with The Creator, Book One. When I was listening to The Creator and writing this down, the image s/he gave me of a peach pit took me completely by surprise.
Namaste, Sheryl
Chapter 17, “A Long Chapter”
God: I have asked Sheryl to let me ramble in this chapter. It will be long by the standards of the other chapters, and the topics may not all fit together, but so be it. It’s what I want. Being the co-collaborator, I get a fair amount of say of the content. (smiling)
Sheryl, are you ready to listen?
Sheryl: Yes, I am. Go for it…
God: Peaches. Peaches have these large hard pits in the middle of them. The pits, besides being hard, are spiny and if you try to bite down on one of them, it can really hurt the soft tissues in your mouth. My point is that people are a lot this way, too. All my Creation mimics each other/itself. When you get to know a person, they have a hard shell around them that protects the soft inner core of their being. Approach them too harshly and they show their protective instincts. They are hard to penetrate, maybe even impossible. But leave them alone without a harsh approach and accept them gently for just who they are, and then you can watch them grow and bloom. Your very greatest leaders have appreciated people just where they are, expected the best from them and then stood back and watched them bloom. Can you be a leader like this? Can you accept the people in your life – your children, your spouse, your bosses, and your employees – with this type of attitude?
What people, like peach pits, need to grow is an appreciation of who they are, an acceptance of their total self and an understanding that their best days lay ahead of them. A little sun, a little rain, a little dark, but not too much of anything helps them to grow. A successful farmer leads his crops gently. He provides as much as he can to help them grow but has an innate understanding that much of the success depends on the crop itself. Were the seeds as potentially strong as he thought? Will the crop soak up enough rain and sun? Will it be safe from unexpected weather conditions?
Leadership is firm but gentle, whether it’s leading crops or people. Leadership is providing the example and understanding without prejudice or malice that not everyone will follow the lead.
(chapter continues but is not included in this blog…)