“And where you invest your love, you invest your life” Mumford and Sons- Awake My Soul.
Are you a King or a King maker?
What’s the difference?
Glad you asked! In order to have great impact; we need both the King and the King maker. The easiest example is Colonel and Elvis. Now treat the Colonel like you would eating a slice of seeded watermelon. Take a bite and spit out the seeds. The Colonel was abusive; so let’s own that is NOT what we are talking about. But the Colonel had a gift of being a King maker. He knew how to set the stage and create the experience that people wanted. Elvis was an amazing, talented King. People did not want to see the Colonel but they would not have seen Elvis if not for him.
Most people approach business and life through the lens of being a king:
- What can I produce?
- What are my giftings?
- What can I do with my personal time?
- What is my profit for my work?
- What if we approached it by how do I invest my life so that others can succeed?
It’s the secret and paradox of the “Y” axis. How do I invest the gift of “me” at its fullest in service to others?
There is a passage in Ecclesiastes that says- the one absolutely true thing is that we are going to die. (Ecclesiastes 3:19) When that event happens, someone else will steward the investment of our life. They may invest well or not. We don’t know. But isn’t dysfunctional to build our lives but not invest in those that will steward it after we go. Fundamentally we are created within the context of community which means we inherently have a skillset of “baton passing” whether we realize it or not or develop it or not. This is the foundation of why I say parenting is the most entrepreneurial thing that we can do.
There will be times that we are “Kings” and there are other times we will be “King makers”. What does this look like in your life? Who are you investing in? Are you intentional about it?
