Blog #39: Who Said That?...
- E. ZeNai Savage
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
It’s my birthday month!
I love birthdays. Especially mine! Even if it’s something simple. It’s the celebration of life and being surrounded by my favorite people. The opportunity to reflect, something that we sometimes don’t do enough. At least not in a meaningful, productive way. What I know for sure is that I’m not always great at slowing down. I tend to stay moving, working, building, planning, solving, and thinking about what’s next. So at least twice a year, around New Year’s and my birthday, I intentionally try to make time for reflection.
This year, I find myself in one of the most interesting seasons of redefinition. A season that has me thinking deeply about identity, leadership, systems, purpose, and honestly… why we do many of the things we do in the first place.
At least once a day or once a week, I find myself asking:
Why are we doing this? And especially, who said we have to do it this way?
At the board table, I’ve asked: Why are we still doing it this way?
At church, I’ve found myself asking: Who said we have to operate like this?
Even in relationships and everyday conversations, I’ve caught myself thinking: Who decided women can’t do that? Or should do that?
The older I get, the more I realize how much of life is inherited. Systems. Traditions. Leadership styles. Workplace norms. Church culture. Relationship expectations. Many of these things were created with good intentions and served a purpose for a particular season. But somewhere along the way, in many spaces, we haven’t examined whether the systems themselves are still producing the kind of fruit they were originally designed to produce. And even when we do know the systems are broken or no longer work, we don’t do much of anything to meaningfully adjust.
This is becoming more and more concerning to me.
It feels like we’re more enamored with activity than impact.
We see organizations launching program after program while struggling to clearly move the needle on the actual mission.
We see employee burnout increasing while leaders continue operating with the same unhealthy expectations and rhythms. We see church attendance declining and discipleship becoming shallower, yet many churches are unwilling to rethink the model because “this is how we’ve always done it.”
We see rising costs of college, declining enrollment, and changing workforce needs, but challenging the educational system still feels uncomfortable for many people.
And the question I keep coming back to is:
Why? Have we become comfortable? Are we afraid of change?
Or have we simply gotten so used to inherited systems that we no longer stop to evaluate whether they are still producing life?
Scripture consistently points us back to fruit as evidence.
In Matthew 7:16, Jesus says: “You will recognize them by their fruits.”
That statement was part of a larger conversation about discernment, identity, and alignment. Jesus was teaching people how to distinguish what was genuine from what only appeared healthy on the surface. Fruit was evidence of what was happening beneath the surface. A healthy tree produces healthy fruit. The fruit reveals the nature of the tree.
This principle is one that can be applicable to so many aspects of our lives!
Our lives produce fruit.
Leadership produces fruit.
Organizations produce fruit.
Churches produce fruit.
Relationships produce fruit.
Systems produce fruit.
Whatever we consistently produce eventually reveals who we are, what we value, and whether we are aligned with the mission we claim to serve.
That’s true for every organization, team, business, nonprofit, ministry, or movement. Over time, outputs expose priorities. Culture reveals itself through patterns. And without intentional evaluation, mission drift and scope creep quietly become normalized. We start valuing activity over outcomes, maintenance over impact, and busyness over effectiveness.
Healthy organizations don’t just stay busy. They stay aligned. And alignment always requires intentionality.
Jesus reinforces this again in John 15 when He talks about pruning branches so they can produce even more fruit. Pruning requires evaluation. Adjustment. Discipline. Sometimes removing what is familiar in order to create room for healthier growth.
That principle applies spiritually, personally, and organizationally.
Healthy leadership requires more than maintaining systems. It requires the discipline to honestly evaluate whether our systems are still producing life. It requires the courage to make adjustments when something is no longer aligned with the mission. And it requires enough patience and consistency to stay committed long enough to see healthier fruit develop over time.
Most people can identify problems.
Most organizations can hold meetings about innovation.
Most leaders can acknowledge change is needed.
The real challenge is whether we have the discipline to make necessary adjustments and remain committed to them long enough to produce meaningful fruit on the other side.
As I reflect this birthday season, I think that’s the question I want to carry into this next year of life:
Who said that?
Who said this system can’t evolve?
Who said this approach is the only way?
Who said inherited always means effective?
Who said activity automatically equals impact?
Maybe asking those questions is exactly what creates room for healthier growth, stronger leadership, deeper discipleship, and better fruit.
And honestly, if we start asking those questions more consistently, I believe we’ll start seeing better results too.
Stay faithful | Stay disciplined | Stay aligned
Live Blurred,
ZeNai
Reflection
• What fruit is my leadership, work, relationships, or spiritual life consistently producing?
• What needs to be pruned, adjusted, or reevaluated in this season of my life?
• Have I confused busyness with effectiveness?
• What would it look like to lead, live, and build more intentionally?
• And ultimately… who said it has to stay this way?
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