Monday, November 11, 2013

Who's on your squad?

I was in a seminar last week with a really dynamic speaker.  She has done a few seminars for my office before so I had heard her, but this time, instead of setting everything up and retreating to my office to knock out some work, I decided to stay in and participate in the session.  The topic was avoiding compassion fatigue (i.e. burnout), which is super relevant in all walks of life.  This speaker talked about "forming your own squad."  She referred to your squad as the people who are in your court, no matter the circumstances.  Just like sports teams are made up of athletes who play different positions, so should your squad be.  Here's the kind of people your squad should consist of:

  • People who listen without advising - less talking, more listening
  • People who offer sound advice - you'll know them by their wisdom
  • A "fan club" who is always for you - you'll know them by their encouragement
  • "Chicken Soup" people - the comforters
  • People who move you forward - the bold ones who will tackle awkward issues in order to advance you

This portion of the presentation just stuck with me.  I started thinking about how important it is that you have people who are on your team!  In life, I try to be on many people's teams, but the reality is that you can't be on 100 teams.  You need to know who's team you are really on and you need to know who is really on your team!

This reminded me of the story in Exodus (in the Bible) where Moses was in charge of leading the Israelites to victory.  He went to the top of a mountain so he could see over the battle and God promised him that as long as his staff was raised, the Israelites would be winning.  The most important thing about this story was that Moses didn't go up on that mountain alone - his team was with him!  Aaron and Hur went up with Moses and they held up his arms so that his staff was always raised and the Israelites could win the battle.  Moses was human.  His arms got tired.  The Israelites would have never won had it not been for Aaron and Hur who held up Moses' arms when he couldn't do it on his own.  We don't get to see how Aaron and Hur feel about this, but we do see what matters.  Aaron and Hur went up with Moses even though his vision and instruction from the Lord seemed a little crazy!

This is a biblical story from thousands of years ago, and yet we see so many common parallels to today.  You have to have a team and they have to be willing to track with you through the stuff that matters.  They have to believe in your vision no matter how crazy it is.  Thank God for friends like Aaron and Hur!

The big takeaway from this lesson for me is that my squad matters!  Though life can be somewhat transient and friends come and go, there is definitely an underlying squad.  Those people have been there for you and will continue to be present no matter the circumstances.  Know your squad, know their role, and invest in them! 

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Changing your filter.

"Living the Christian life is about learning to be like Jesus."

We've all heard it, believed it, subscribed to it, idealized it.  But, let's get real - what does that sentimental statement even mean?  How do we make it reality?  Am I doing a good job in my process of learning?  

Ideally, I'd love to think that if one were to examine my days they would look liked this:  joy, love, patience, kindness, encouragement, courage, boldness, rainbows, sunshine and happiness.  But, in reality, this is what most of my days look like in a play by play:

Wake up.  Dog needs to go out.  She's overly excited that it's morning.  I don't want to play.  I just want coffee.  Try to watch the news, someone else in my household wakes up.  They ask questions.  I respond with half-words and as little acknowledgement of morning as possible.  I wait too long to get in the shower, then rush through my routine.  I run out of the house less than satisfied with how I look.  I speed all the way to whatever work/class/activity/meeting I have.  I participate knowing that I am not as fully prepared as I should be.  I hop from meeting to class to office to appointment.  I meet with friends.  I'm not fully engaged in conversations with friends because my mind is running a million miles an hour.  I do school work.  I do work work.  I wish away the days until Friday.  I come back to reality.  I finally reach my point of ultimate tiredness.  I drive home hastily, mad that someone in front of me is driving slower than I want them to.  I get home.  The dog is excited to see me.  I brush off her excitement because it's late and I make her lay down.  I get in my bed.  I crash.  Wake up.  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat. 

The bottom line here is that I lack grace.  For myself and for others.  Most days, I fail to remember that I'm trying to be like Jesus so that others recognize Him in me.  

I dare you to cast all your religious theology aside and to choose to see this next part of this blog through the filter of a God who so loved the world. 

Being like Jesus is not about a denomination, a set of rules, being bad and/or good, choosing the right things, doing the right things or saying the right things.  It's not about whether you believe in organized religious gatherings or individual meditation.  It's not about how stressed you are or are not.  It is not about whether or not I give money to people on the street or how many times I deny myself.  Learning to be like Jesus is not about how humble of a job I take, how many days in a row I go without buying clothes or how many degrees and letters I have behind my name.  Everything I just listed is a byproduct of a world who is seeking to understand the meaning of life.

Being like Jesus is about learning grace.  The unmerited, undeserved, uninhibited, and WILD favor of the Kingdom.  It rests on me.  It rests on you.  My only job is making the commitment.  Then I leave the rest up to grace.  

The reality is that learning to be like Jesus is so not about me.  Or you.  Or anyone else.  Learning to be like Jesus is realizing that you've been empowered the truth and love of the Kingdom.  All you have to do is first receive that love and then give out of the abundance available in your heart. 

I'm not suggesting that Christianity isn't complex, or that we should dumb it down.  I'm not knocking all the years of writing and effort it has taken to hash out theological tenants of faith.  I'm not suggesting that we have been stuck in oppression and bondage and need to break free.  I'm simply suggesting that if we want to know what it looks like to learn to be like Jesus, we start loving ourselves and others right where we're at.  Right where they're at.  We need to start seeing our realities through the filter of grace.

Ask Jesus to adjust your reality to one which is filtered through grace.  And then get out of your own way.  You'll be so glad you did. 

Monday, November 4, 2013

Life on purpose

Obviously, the last few months...well, really the last year of my life has been one giant leap of faith and step outside of my comfort zone.  Seriously, it blows my mind all the time that I quit my stable, well paying job in a community that I loved to move 2 hours away and start making other things happen in my life.  If you're tired of hearing me say this on my blog, I promise I'll stop when I stop being surprised that I did that.  But, even through my surprise, I really believe that I had to make the sacrifices to live my life on purpose.

Here's a little background on me that you might not know.  Upon graduating undergrad, I had NO CLUE that I wanted to do anything in the nonprofit world.  I knew I wanted to stay in Boone a little longer so I was looking for any job that would enable me to do just that.  I stumbled upon and into my job at Samaritan's Purse and I am so grateful.  That job changed my heart.  It stirred up my real passion.  It motivated and inspired me to pursue things I never thought I would.  I am now pursuing my Masters in nonprofit management because of it.  Though working at SP wasn't necessarily on purpose for me, it definitely had purpose for me.

The thing about living life on purpose is that sometimes we stumble into our purpose.  I had a friend tell me once that she found her purpose and passion while serving on a short-term mission trip.  Prior to that trip, she had no idea that she'd find what she was passionate about through the medium of short-term missions.  Sometimes, life hides greater purpose in things we're doing temporarily.  While we should probably set out every single day to live intentionally and love people and have grace, the reality is that we are ALL human.  Yes, I, just like all of you, get really frustrated when people in front of me are driving slow.  Yes, I, just like all of you fight battles with myself every day over really silly things.  The truth is, even though I set out to live on purpose daily, I still have to remind myself frequently that purpose can also be in the small, temporary and sometimes mundane assignments of life.

Don't stress over the fact that you are in your mid-twenties, disappointing everyone who thinks you should be married and living life as it comes (I'm preaching to my own self here).  I spend a lot of my time worrying about what's to come and I'm actually missing what's happening right now as a result.  Living life on purpose includes taking each day, wrought with its own challenges, as it comes.   I'm headed in a direction I never thought I would be because I found purpose in something that I regarded as temporary.

Living life on purpose is all about doing what brings you joy and leads you in a direction that satisfies you.  We should all realize that the timing on when we find our purpose is flexible and can't be sped up, despite our best efforts.  So, go today and live life on purpose!  Keep doing what you're doing and walking in the direction of your dreams!