Loving, Even When It Seems Impossible

“Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.  Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.” – Hebrews 13:17

                I have read this verse a thousand times and it is one of those verses everyone loves to quote.  But, as I read it again, it hit me.  When I was a squadron commander there was some of my flight staff that thought I only got the position because I was a woman, and that I was completely incapable of leading the squadron.   There was a lot of walls, tension, distrust, and unwillingness.  For the first half of my time this made my job so much harder, even if my staff did submit to my authority and listen, I could tell nowhere inside of them did they want to.  It is extremely hard to lead a group, when they have no interest in working as a team.  I can completely relate to this verse, in every single line.  Everything that happened within my squadron I had to give an account of.  I take the responsibility for anything that happens, but mostly the failures.  So, logically why would I do anything to purposefully harm my team?  My main goal was to watch them grow and just make sure they had the tools and the means to do so.  Throughout the time of distrust from half my staff, my job was not exactly full of joy.   I am not saying that I didn’t enjoy it, I did, but when we all were on the same page (and were happy to be there), there was so much more joy in my job.  I enjoyed every moment I got with them, even if they weren’t “happy” moments.

Thinking of all this, God totally convicted me, “Cassandra, if you know how it feels, then why would you ever do that to someone else.”  I know how hard it can be to submit to authority.  When your authority earns your respect, they know what they are doing, they care about you as a person, and they are just simply a good leader and team player, it is so easy to submit their authority.  But, then there are those who you know have no care for your human existence, and yet you still have to submit and submit with love.  Oh, how impossible it can sometimes seem to be.  The Bible says the world will know us by our love.  I think that moments they notice the most, is when it is hardest to love and yet we do.  It is so much harder to love, then to hold on to anger, and so much easier to disobey then to submit.  Yet, God is telling us to submit to our authority and He doesn’t just say our good authority.