Administration as a Spiritual Path

People who work as administrators grumble about it all the time.  “Another meeting.” “Another performance review.” “Another crisis.”   Yet administration is on St. Paul’s list of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12.  Ann Garrido, an academic administrator in St. Louis, asks, “Why not reconceive administration as a potential spiritual pathway by which good people can become better people, distinguished by a certain translucence and vitality that extends beyond themselves and into the institutions they serve?”

Here’s one of the ways administration stretches us:

Administrators must develop a vision of the whole, an understanding of how all the parts fit together and work together. This is an intellectual exercise that stretches the brain, but it can also be a spiritual exercise that stretches the heart, developing one’s capacity for a different kind of love. Administration cultivates a desire for the common good, for the flourishing of all.

Read the whole thing.