“When you stop loving people, you stop serving them well.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2015-10-06) from his book, Intentional Living: Choosing a Life That Matters (p. 176). Center Street. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Now we are pretty good at judging whether other people are loving and serving us well but that’s not up to us. We have no control over others but we do have control over us. That is what we need to be judging.

John says, “If you’re wondering, Why aren’t others serving me? it becomes a source of discontent. And if you’re a leader, you forfeit your leadership effectiveness.”

Leading up to this thought He said, “I believe most people who try to make a difference start out with the right motives and attitudes. As a result, the people they help gain a tremendous amount from them. But what often starts to occur is a shift in thinking, from I want to help people to I want people to help me. This is especially destructive when this shift occurs in the leaders. The moment that transition in attitude takes place, the leaders’ motives change. Instead of enlisting people to whom they can add value and who will join them in adding value to others, the leaders want to attract people who can add value to themselves. When people are motivated by personal advantage, they’ve lost their way. As a result, they get off track and they can no longer make a difference. When you stop loving people, you stop serving them well.”

And that is also true in our family, isn’t it?

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