Loathe them or love them, snakes are slithering into the spotlight this year.
The Lunar New Year, including the Chinese New Year, starts Jan. 29, ushering in the Year of the Snake, the sixth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
2025 is a dynamic year to learn from the past, moving forward with wisdom, awareness, transformation, and compassion.
The snake represents knowledge, intelligence, intuition, and creativity. Snakes are also associated with good luck, prosperity, fertility, and longevity.
The new year 2025 ushers in moments to reset, set new goals, and to cherish the people who make life meaningful, a chance to spread joy, and inspire us all to embrace the new year with hope and happiness.
As it is an election year, it’s also a chance to look forward to the future. It is a time to share the theme of hope, renewal, opportunities, and new leadership for national and local government positions.
As of this time, politics takes center stage in our national consciousness.
Indeed, in choosing the candidate to vote for this year, the first test a thoughtful voter must do is to check the qualities of the person who is seeking public office, and his mental, moral, and emotional readiness for servant leadership.
An article in techtarget.com defines Servant Leadership as a philosophy built on the belief that the most effective leaders strive to serve others, rather than accrue power or take control.
The term was coined by management expert Robert K. Greenleaf in an essay, “The Servant as Leader,” published in 1970. Greenleaf defined servant leaders as not motivated by the traditional manifestations of power: “The servant leader is servant first…. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant — first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served.…”
In Mark 10:42-45, the Lord Jesus Christ talked of servant leadership wherein he drew a distinction between rulers who throw their weight around, and what His disciples should aspire to be.
Jesus called them, and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi wrote about the concept in the fifth century B.C. when he described the highest type of ruler as someone who deflects attention: The sage is self-effacing and scanty of words. When his task is accomplished, and things have been completed, all the people say, ‘We ourselves have achieved it.’”
Happy new year!
VOTE WISELY!
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