Important by-products of personal growth

This past week I picked up Michael Hyatt's new book Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals. As I began reading I came across a comment that caught my eye. He wrote, "Confidence, happiness, and life satisfaction are byproducts of personal growth." It is such a simple statement, but it is one packed with meaning. I haven't read enough of the book to know where he is going with this statement, but let me share some  thoughts I had as I read it.

When we are growing personally we are able to identify our strengths and weaknesses. That tells us both the areas in our lives in which we should concentrate much of our time and energy and which areas we should try to delegate to someone else. When we know our areas of strength we can look for opportunities to grow even stronger in those areas. Likewise, we can avoid spending much time, if any, trying to improve the areas of our weaknesses.

I learned a long time ago my primary spiritual gifts are preaching, teaching, and leadership. Over the years I have read much in those three areas. My master's degree included a concentration in leadership requiring five courses in the subject. My doctorate included courses that contained a lot of leadership material. I know I am a better leader today than I was even five years ago.

Because I spend much of my time working in these three areas it stands to reason that I am going to be more confident, happier, and more satisfied with life. I am operating in my areas of strength.

On the other hand, suppose I am one of those persons who is not very self-aware. I don't know my strengths and weaknesses and spend about as much time operating in the areas of my weaknesses as I do in my strengths. How confident am I going to be in my work? How happy and satisfied with life will I be? The more time a person spends working in their weaknesses the less enjoyable their work and life will be, and the less that person will accomplish.

Especially in smaller churches pastors have to be generalists and willing to do a variety of things. But, we often have the opportunity to delegate some of those things to other people. One important lesson I learned is that just as God wired me to do better in certain areas, He has also wired others to do well in other areas. Part of my role as a leader is to identify those persons who are gifted in areas in which I am not and allow them to use their gifts for ministry. This recognizes God's call on their lives and allows them the opportunity to grow as a disciple. Plus, it allows me more time to work in my own areas of giftedness. This is a win-win for everyone.

I've only started reading this book, but it looks like it's going to be a good one.