Holding Space

At a meeting last week.

I watched a friend facilitate something worth sharing.

We were together looking ahead at the decision to select a leader.

It wasn't for a Fortune 500 company.

It wasn't within a thriving metropolis.

Wasn't really even a big village.

The decision wouldn't be pushed out to media outlets.

Still, it was an extraordinary moment for me to witness.

Something I will never forget.

It went like this...

A while back there was a leader who fell into a difficult season of life.

Their health in several ways, was depleted.

And so he stepped down, and another was appointed.

But although the former stepped down, they didn't step away.

And the people who had followed him wouldn't let him go, during this difficult season.

Not even the one who had replaced him.

They practiced love and community like we talk about it being practiced,

but don't always see.

Then, a bit more than two years later, the other ran into their own very difficult season.

And they had to step down.  

During that time, the first had been able to find their footing again.

And because he had stayed connected; with everyone,

Because they shared love and hope and affirmation with each other,

It seemed completely appropriate to the selection team to reach out to the one

who had stepped away earlier.

Not as a default, but as a joyous moving forward for everybody involved.

As though there may have been a plan in motion all along.

As though a story was being written and this selection was the next chapter in that story;

just now revealed.

Oh.....and I should say that on the selection team there was someone who 

served alongside each of those past chosen leaders.  

Someone who saw themselves in that role of support to each, and although they had the training and 

experience to offer themselves as a candidate, they instead held space for those mentioned above, throughout the process.

Extraordinary.

This idea of holding space for others.

Human beings are worth more than being cast aside and forgotten when they stumble or struggle.

In the practice of true community we will have the opportunity to witness the whole of the story.

If we stay with it through the rough parts.

It's a beautiful thing to see.

It's even a bit miraculous.