What does the God have to do with leading in this economy?

On Feb. 6th., a colleague, Matt Meents of Reside, invited me to University of St. Thomas’s First Friday Speaking Series.  It was a great event with George Buckley, Chairman of the Board of 3M, sharing his insights on the U.S. economy based on an engineer’s analysis of the economy.

The luncheon event was launched with a prayer by Don Wienkauf, Dean of Engineering of St. Thomas University. I was struck by not only the freshness, aliveness and hope of his prayer, but also by the humility. Obviously, we were in the audience of brilliant people (OK, I have a bias. My daughter is in bio-medical engineering and my future son-in-law is in chemical engineering. Sometimes, I have NO IDEA what they are talking about! I think they are brilliant!)

As leaders, we have the opportunity to bring hope to those we influence. They best way to bring hope is to by humble and recognize that we can’t lead alone, that we rely on the “God of Surprises” to “Inspire us with the belief that the answers to our greatest problem lie in a deeper understanding of You and Your creation.”

Here’s the prayer. What are the sections that speak to you?

O Gracious Lord, and God of Surprises.

Lift us with imagination.

Fill us with wonder for what we do not know.

Remind us, and humble us with the mysteries

….of a seemingly boundless universe.

Inspire us with the belief that the answers to our greatest problem

… lie in a deeper understanding of You and Your creation.

Release us from the routine

… and prepare us to be surprised by what we have yet to learn.

O Gracious Lord, and God of Forgiveness.

Grant us the power to forgive.

So that we can cast away the shadow of what has been done,

And allow us the freedom, energy, and zeal to address

… those things which we have left undone

the things we’ve left undone… in poverty

the things we’ve left undone… in hunger

the things we’ve left undone… with a stranger, with our friends

… and in the lives of our own families.

For your greatest mercy is asked for these things

The things we can do, but do not.

Help us to remember, that life is short, that there are words of kindness and love that will never be spoken unless we say them.

Laughter that will never be shared, unless we spark it.

And good deeds that will never be done unless we do them.

O Gracious Lord, Lift us with imagination and empower us with forgiveness to move on to the great work You have set out for us to do.

What parts of this prayer speak to you?

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