Characteristics of Franciscan Servant Leadership

I have been reading The Handbook for Franciscan Servant Leadership (2010) as part of my spiritual reading. I came across the following early in the handbook:  

"Three essential characteristics when one assumes a Franciscan servant leadership role are:

1. that the call or commission is initiated by God;

2. that the response or commitment is wholehearted; and

3.that the leader has or is open to receiving the vision necessary to serve in a servant leadership capacity.

The vitality and growth of fraternal life is usually related to the absence or presence of these characteristics in its leaders."

I got to thinking.

The first one is an area I always question. I have so much ego and ambition that I always wonder if any "call" to leadership is more about me than a genuine call from God. But I have also often found myself in leadership positions, or mentioned by others as a potential leader. I got elected to the council because the  current minister sprang it on me - and she keeps touting me as a future minister.

The second one is a tough one. I always feel that I'm only half-hearted. I don't do everything with enthusiasm or energy. Instead, I have a tendency to get lazy. In that I fail as a leader. Does that mean I'm not being a true leader? Or Franciscan? Or even Christian?

The third characteristic I really don't have much to say about.

But one of the things that reading all this is making me think about is my desire to step down form the council at the next election, and to turn down any leadership position. Is that out of ego? Laziness? A rejection of God's call?

Things to think about as I read on.

Pax et bonum