THE MEDIOCRE MAN

(Post by: Madie Hobbs)

As someone who has always had parents in leadership positions for various organizations, and has led a few things myself, I have had the misfortune of encountering, and watching my parents deal with, a multitude of mediocre men. I have written about these kinds of experiences before, but considering the scale of mediocre men seems to keep growing larger around me, it has weighed heavily in my thoughts of late and I wish to contemplate the topic with you.

I’m always amazed when I see the multitude of damage a single mediocre man can make in his sphere of influence. Throughout history, it has many times been the fault of a mediocre man when empires fall, wars are lost, and civilizations ruined. And for what? The selfish pursuits of a tyrant willing to put his personal needs and vendettas above the wellbeing of everyone looking to him for guidance.

My encounters with these men have led me to promise myself one thing: Whatever the circumstance, turning to mediocrity and selfishness is not an option.

This goal has been inspired by the few great leaders I have been fortunate enough to study under and admire. The one common trait these leaders share is a complete lack of mediocrity and selfishness, and an abundance of humility and sacrifice. They often suffer greatly, receive little thanks, and fight many unseen battles with very few people to support them.

A mediocre man will always be able to find a multitude of others similarly inclined, but a true leader will often face the fires of this world alone.

I have often asked the Lord why this must be, for as I strive to imitate those leaders I admire, it becomes increasingly apparent my lot shall, in all likelihood, be the same as theirs. My prayers often turn to repetitive questions regarding why it couldn’t be the other way around. Why the mediocre man could not suffer the pain of loneliness that his mediocrity may be quickly snuffed out, and why the great leader might not have an abundance of allies willing, at any hour, to support and celebrate him in his victories or console him in his many defeats.

As I ask these things, the Lord always bring to mind my favorite poem, which I often cling to in desperate hours. Two of the verses say,

“Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,

In your eyes I have read

That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,

And to be understood is to be leveled down,

And to be grasped is but to reach one’s fullness

And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.

Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,

You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,

And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings,

And urging of seas,

And of mountains that burn in the night,

And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.”

(Defeat by Khalil Gibran)

Then the Lord reminds me of Jesus. What support and following did He have in His moments of what appeared to be His greatest defeat? Merely one of his twelve chosen disciples, and few others who claimed to love Him.

Mediocrity is always easier to support, for it requires very little of its participants. It requires only that they sit on their hands until ordered to clap for their tyrant, and to clamp their mouths shut until ordered to speak the poisonous lies of their spineless leader. It requires much of me to pity that leader, who often understands what they are doing and how they are destroying, but I always, sometimes involuntarily, pity those who have been impaled by the picket fence they perched upon, until the mediocrity finally sunk its claws into them.

I know many of us may be looking at the world around us and may be wondering how mediocrity is ever to be overcome. How will we ever purge it? How will we ever help others to realize they have been impaled by the very thing promised to save them? How will we ever get people to worship something else?

The Lord has only ever given me but one answer.

You worship at another Throne.

The mediocre man has been enthroned and in turn enslaved. If he wishes to hug tightly the chains biting into his tender skin, if that is his definition of what power and prestige look like, it is his choice to expand his slavery yard by yard and link by link. Our choice lies in rejecting that slavery we all have a tendency to easily accept, and kneeling before the throne of Christ, the only one worthy of being knelt before.

No one else may follow, but you worship at another Throne.

You cast aside all pride, all self-indulgence, all desire for vengeance, and you kneel, with head bent before the only one capable of crowning you with anything greater than yourself.

Cling tightly to your defeat. Savor it, love it, learn from it, and know that if you have but given yourself the chance to fail while daring greatly at something which truly matters, you are far better off than the mediocre man who will never know neither victory nor defeat.

“Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,

You and I shall laugh together with the storm,

And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us,

And we shall stand in the sun with a will,

And we shall be dangerous.”

SO, WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= What are you going to do differently?