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“Cell-less leaders” according to Fleming, do not make time for reflection.84 In a role that must envision and plan for the future, it is critically important to use the past, and be able to reflect on it as a platform for the future. Leaders who are learners seek lessons from their past, from the environment of reflection. “Cell-less leaders” do not do this well, and this can have serious consequences for their key family and friendship relationships—those key personal support networks that are so foundationally vital in ensuring all bodes well, for the leader and all his/her subordinates. It is the family and key friendship relationships that suffer most when the leader doesn’t reflect – and this has the effect of rebounding onto the key leadership relationships with sub-ordinates. The “Cell” is also required to help keep the heart pure and unadulterated from the more poisonous influences of life. A healthy “cell” life provides both flexibility and vigilance (diligence), so that the delicate balance can be maintained and we can continue in spiritual wakefulness.85 The truth is the “shallow me doesn’t want the rest of me to discover that the shallow me is an illusion that must be evacuated.”86 The process of the Poustinia or the Cell is necessary; vital in reconciliation with self. Fleming says, as MacDonald indicated earlier, the “stark cell” forces us to “continue in the inevitable discomfort it brings [then we will have] the courage to let go of the illusion.”87 This brings in with it the principle of shalom. It can be variously defined as peace, abundance, and wellbeing — all of which are signs of the good life lived in harmony with God and God’s creation.88 Further, shalom is worldly order, or better, universal order. God has set up an order and a ‘shalom,’ which is easily disturbed—“a balance that can be upset.”89 The goal is congruence and knowledge of that which is not good so it can be safely discarded. At once, shalom is achieved. Assuming the value of silence and solitude is incontrovertible, let us focus more clearly on this concept of personal mastery. It’s been said that it is the ‘creative tension’ between the current reality and the vision the person holds for the future.90 The vision draws us from the present situation toward the perceived goal. This is a passionate commitment to growth 84
Dave Fleming, Leadership Wisdom from Unlikely Voices, (Emergent Youth Specialties Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2004), p. 45f. 85 Fleming, Op cit, p. 45. 86 Fleming, Ibid, p. 57. 87 Fleming, Ibid, p. 57. 88 Paul E. Koptak, The NIV Application Commentary: Proverbs, (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2003), p. 122. 89 Koptak, Ibid, p. 155. 90 http://www.rtis.com/nat/user/jfullerton/review/learning.htm. Copyright © 2007, 2008, 2009 S. J. Wickham. All rights reserved Worldwide. May not be used without permission.