Make level paths
Run the race set before you
The writer to the Hebrews has just called for endurance — run with patience the race set before us, looking to Jesus. Then he turns to the path itself: lift up the hands that hang down and the weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame is not dislodged, but rather healed.
It is a leader's instruction. Make the path level — not for yourself only, but for the limping ones behind you. A rough, obstacle-strewn way will throw the weakest first; a path made straight lets even the lame keep walking and heal as they go. Leaders shape the terrain others travel. Part of direction is clearing the road so the vulnerable are not knocked out of the race.
“Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”
— John the Baptist, the voice in the wilderness — Mark 1:3 (WEB)
Leaders shape the terrain others travel. Making the path level — clearing obstacles for the weakest — lets even the limping keep walking and heal as they go.
“and make straight paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.”
The writer thinks first of the lame, not the strong. A leader formed here carries a protective instinct for the vulnerable on the team — asking how the path he sets will land on the weakest, not just the fittest. The inner work is leadership that stoops to clear the road.
Smooth the way for those who are struggling. Remove needless obstacles, simplify the path, and design the terrain so the weakest are not the first to fall. Lead in a way that heals the limping rather than dislodging them.
Strong leaders set a pace and a path fitted to the strong, and the weak quietly drop away. The blind spot is never noticing that the terrain they built is throwing the most vulnerable first.
Look at one process or path your team travels. This week, remove one needless obstacle that most hurts the weakest among them.
Leaders shape the terrain others have to travel. A rough, obstacle-strewn path throws the weakest walkers first; a path made level lets even the limping keep going — and heal as they go.
Are you making the path straight for the vulnerable behind you, or leaving a rough road that knocks the weakest out of the race?