Lead with Zeal

I am incredibly blessed to be the father of a joyous 8-month old girl, Caroline Frances. Many people who meet her remark on how she is such a happy baby. Simply put, her joy is infectious. Many days it seems like Caroline is constantly smiling, whether she is enjoying watching people dance to her favorite songs, splashing around during her bath, or chewing on her newest favorite toy. This past week, that toy was my belt, and did she go after it with zeal.

Nothing embodies Caroline's zeal perhaps as much as her love for our family dog, Arya. If you are holding Caroline and Arya runs past, she will try to dive out of your arms to catch her. Now that Caroline has learned to crawl, she spends a lot of time chasing after Arya to play with her, or trying to climb into her crate to just hang out with her best friend.

Often it seems as though Caroline's zeal for life is boundless. Yet as all parents know, this joy does not persist 100 percent of the time. While these moments of happiness are incredibly gratifying and life-giving to experience, children also can be quite temperamental and can quickly melt down without a moment's notice. Too often I have seen Caroline lose it because we would not let her chew on Arya's toys, or we tried to make her eat peas, or because she dropped the same toy three times in a row and we did not pick it up for her to drop a fourth time.

Caroline's zeal fits broadly speaking with the definition of zeal as "great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of any cause or objective." Yet when it comes to our shared ministry as transformational Catholic school educators, we define zeal as:

"Exuding the flame of burning desire to make God known, loved, and served; embracing Christ's call to shameless audacity in bringing the hope and joy of the Gospel to the school community and doing whatever it takes to support the mission of the school; and being grateful for the gifts entrusted to us as educators, inspiring a spirit of joy and gratitude in all whom we encounter."

While we incessantly remind our Remick Leaders to "lead with zeal," the reality we all need to accept is that although our zeal runs deep, it is not infinite. Just as Caroline quickly goes from loving her dog to crying if Arya licks her face or knocks her over, no matter how passionate we may be in our ministry to make God known, loved, and served, at times it may feel like we simply do not have enough left in us to want to wake up another day and persist in our work. Yet though our zeal may at times become exhausted, fortunately, it is renewable.

Last week, a group of Remick Leaders joined the 2nd cohort for the Center for Transformational Educational Leadership on an immersion trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We examined how three schools strive to cultivate an intentional, Christ-centered, culture of joy. On our school visit to St. Marcus, we joined the teachers for their weekly morning prayer circle. This is the first thing these educators do each week, and it was incredible to watch how they all arrive early to pray together at 7:15 a.m., gathering as a community before the students arrive for the week. During the prayer, Henry Tyson, the superintendent of St. Marcus, shared a reflection reminding each teacher to live out their school value of "Christ First" at all times. He stressed that everyone needed to remember to make time to let God into their lives, as without doing so, they could too easily burn out in their zeal, or become overly focused on the work of teaching our children academically, but failing to remember the spiritual component of our ministry as well.

Later that day, we heard from the leaders of the school, who openly shared that when having courageous conversations or dealing with a particularly difficult situation, how hard it is for them to keep "Christ First"–yet at the same time, they immediately acknowledged how doing so was a major reason for their success as a community. Each of them recognized that when things became tough, that was exactly the time when they needed to prioritize finding ways to renew their zeal through both community and prayer.

For me, this was a vivid reminder that not only must we seek to kindle the zeal of others through our own joy and exuberance, as Caroline does for me each day-but we must also take time to pause and recognize when we need to rekindle our own zeal. Recognizing this need allows us to welcome God to enter fully into our lives. As frustrating as it can be when Caroline gets upset for no apparent reason, or when a teacher is negative about the work expected of them, it is our job to help rekindle this zeal in in them. Similarly, it is in making time for God in our lives that we can ensure that we keep alive this burning flame to make God known, loved, and served through our words and actions.

Are you interested in becoming a transformational leader? Visit ace.nd.edu/programs/leadership and request more information!