"It only takes one person to start a trend!"

Last week I was out to dinner with some friends who were in from out of town. There were several conversations going on at the same time, as often happens with my friends. Several of us are fairly loud and enjoy talking. So I was not involved in the conversation but I was following it to a point. I knew they were talking about making every day St. Patrick's Day...and my friend made the statement, "It only takes one person to start a trend!" She was encouraging someone else to start the trend of having St. Patrick's Day year round.

I started thinking about that statement. It only takes one person to start a trend. On the surface it sounded like a true statement...but something didn't seem right. I don't like blanket statements and this one seemed to be a blanket statement. I guess in a sense all trends have to start with one person, that much is true. The thing that I was thinking about is that if no one follows you then you would have a hard time starting a trend. There are a lot of people in the world who march to the beat of a different drummer. The reason we say that they "march to the beat of a different drummer" is because no one is following them! It does take one person to start a trend...but it doesn't "only" take one person. It takes a person who has the influence to have others follow them.

Almost everyone I know either feels they are a leader or wants to be a leader. The thing I have noticed as I have gone through life is that there are fewer leaders and a LOT more followers than I ever expected. It is amazing how easily a group can be persuaded into doing something as a group. Once you get people going in a certain direction they will almost always feel that it was their choice and they truly wanted to go that direction. If you had asked them to go that direction while they were alone or when no one else was doing it they would have never gone along with the idea. Take for example the ever changing world of fashion. Not runway fashion, but the "fashion" that you see when you walk through the mall or go out to dinner. The trends change, the look of what is socially acceptable changes and people go along with it. I am not saying that I set any trends when it comes to fashion or that I fight the system at all. I am simply showing how many followers we have in our society.

When I was young someone told me to "pick your battles." There are times when I am just fine with going along with the crowd. There are other times when I will assert myself and not follow what other people think is the thing to do. Being a leader does not mean that you always make every decision and everyone needs to follow you or get out of the way. There are people who make waves and push their own agenda, that doesn't make them a leader. If you want to know if you are a leader right now or not all you have to do is look behind you. If there are people who are following you or are willing to follow you then you are a leader. Leaders are not alone.

Jesus was the ultimate leader and even He submitted his will to the Father. Just a thought, you can lead and still submit to someone else. So it does only take one person to start a trend. The only catch is that the person must be a leader. I don't know why I thought about posting this right now. It is simply food for thought.