May the Lord help you to do your duty & guide you through all dangers by land and sea.
May you see the Works of the Lord & all His Wonders in the deep.

On the flyleaf of Shackleton’s Bible,
given to the expedition
by Queen Mother Alexandra of England

Endurance

The order to abandon ship was given at 5 P.M.

Thus begins Endurance, Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing¹. I have had the privilege of reading this book over the past few weeks in preparation for our monthly young adult book club. It is the true story of Ernest Shackleton’s attempt at a transcontinental crossing of Antarctica from 1914-1916.

The date was October 27, 1915. The name of the ship was Endurance. The position was 69°5’ South, 51°30’ West—deep in the icy wasteland of the Antarctic’s treacherous Weddell Sea, just about midway between the South Pole and the nearest known outpost of humanity, some 1,200 miles away.

Few men have borne the responsibility Shackleton did at that moment. Though he certainly was aware that their situation was desperate, he could not possibly have imagined then the physical and emotional demands that ultimately would be placed upon them, the rigors they would have to endure, the sufferings to which they would be subjected.

In God’s providence, this book has provided thoughts that burn² in a great time of need, and it is especially the area of Shackleton’s leadership of his men in this unimaginable situation which captivated me. I began reading the book while the Coronavirus was nothing more than something that was happening far away in China. By the time I finished, our lives in the United States had been turned upside down. I struggled with what I was to do. So much was out of my control. I could do nothing more than submit to the leaders of my local and national government and hope they were making the right calls.

Or was that really all I could do? As I read page after page of Endurance and pondered Shackleton’s leadership successes and failures, an idea began to burn in my mind. While I am not a president, congressman, governor, mayor, or even an advisor, I am a mother and in perhaps one of the greatest positions of leadership a man can have.

Leadership Lessons

While I continue to consider many of the leadership lessons I am taking away from Endurance, I want to share a few. No matter how hard the journey or the circumstances, as a leader…

1. It is my duty to be unwavering to the mission and goal and to change both when necessary.
2. It is my duty to not lose hope and to share hope.
3. It is my duty to put the interests of my family above my own.
4. It is my duty to not labor above but beside my children; there is nothing which I should ask of my children which I am not myself first and foremost willing to do.
5. It is my duty in uncertain times to keep order and routine in my home.

There is a pair of leaders who come to mind regarding these points. Perhaps you are familiar with J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit³. The dwarves have awakened the dragon. As he is pouring down destruction and flames upon the people, we read of two different leaders in Laketown, the Master and a man named Bard:

Already men were jumping into the water on every side. Women and children were being huddled into laden boats in the market-pool. Weapons were flung down. There was mourning and weeping, where but a little time ago the old songs of mirth to come had been sung about the dwarves. Now men cursed their names. The Master himself was turning to his great gilded boat, hoping to row away in the confusion and save himself. Soon all the town would be deserted and burned down to the surface of the lake.

That was the dragon’s hope. They could all get into boats for all he cared. There he could have fine sport hunting them, or they could stop till they starved. Let them try to get to land and he would be ready. Soon he would set all the shoreland woods ablaze and wither every field and pasture. Just now he was enjoying the sport of town-baiting more than he had enjoyed anything for years. 

But there was still a company of archers that held their ground among the burning houses. Their captain was Bard, grim-voiced and grim-faced, whose friends had accused him of prophesying floods and poisoned fish, though they knew his worth and courage. He was a descendant in long line of Girion, Lord of Dale, whose wife and child had escaped down the Running River from the ruin long ago. Now he shot with a great yew bow, till all his arrows but one were spent. The flames were near him. His companions were leaving him. He bent his bow for the last time.

Fuel for Leadership

All who are in positions of leadership do not lead like Shackleton or Bard. How do I lead without losing hope while continuing to serve self-sacrificially? While literature can certainly feed a fire within me, it is only the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God which can provide the fuel to keep the fire burning during the hardest of times.

1. It is my duty to be unwavering to the mission and goal and to change both when necessary, to not lose hope, and to share hope.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1–2)⁴

The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

2. It is my duty to not lose hope and to share hope.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

3. It is my duty to put the interests of my family above my own.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:10–15)

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:12–13)

4. It is my duty to not labor above but beside my children; there is nothing which I should ask of my children which I am not myself first and foremost willing to do.

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. (John 13:12–16)

5. It is my duty in uncertain times to keep order and routine in my home.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. … If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:4–5, 10-11)

Leadership in the Trivial

There is a scene from near the end of Endurance which comes to my mind more than any other because the reality is that my greatest leadership challenges occur daily in very small ways.

All of them fell sullen—even Shackleton, who from the beginning had required of the men that they make every effort to remain cheerful in order to avoid antagonisms. But it seemed too much—to be so close, possibly only one good day’s run, and to have to stop.

The strain on Shackleton was so great that he lost his temper over a trivial incident. A small, bob-tailed bird appeared over the boat and flew annoyingly about, like a mosquito intent on landing. Shackleton stood it for several minutes, then he leaped to his feet, swearing and batting furiously at the bird with his arms. But he realized at once the poor example he had set and dropped back down again with a chagrined expression on his face.

I can’t get out of my mind how Shackleton, in circumstances which none of us could imagine enduring, so quickly recognizes his failure and has the humility to check it. When I snap, I am not supporting the mission or providing hope. I am not putting the interests of my family first. I am not displaying the attitude which I require of them. And, rather than order, I provide demoralizing chaos.

For God’s glory, may I model leadership for my children which will serve them now and long into the future.

and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith

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1. Lansing, Alfred. Endurance, Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage. New York: Basic Books, 2014.
2. Mason, Charlotte. L’Umile Pianta, Jan. 1896, p. 3.
3. Tolkein, J.R.R.. The Hobbit. New York, Houghton Mifflin, 2001.
4. Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.