By Mark Hancock for THRiVE! NEWS
This President’s Day, we reflect on those faces on Mt. Rushmore — iconic leaders from our past that demand our admiration. Sometimes, if you’re like me, you find yourself wondering where such leaders are now. Where is the next George Washington — strong, faithful, humble, resolute, worthy of respect, a man worth following?
Most leadership failures are not caused by a lack of ability. They stem from a missing virtue which Americans have largely forgotten. The strength that built this nation was not loud, flashy or self-assured. It was reverent.
Reverence is not the same thing as meekness or humility. Humility may grow from reverence — but reverence is the root. It is deeper and wider-reaching. Reverence is the awareness that we stand before something holy, that authority is purposefully granted, and that every part of life is accountable to Heaven.
And modern Americans increasingly want the fruit of reverence without the fear of God underneath it. We carve our heroes into stone — but forget the faith that steadied their souls.
Few American leaders embodied this understanding more fully than George Washington.
