Working Out and Not Alone

The past few days have been especially stressful for a number of reasons--not all of them blog-appropriate material.  And one of the lies the 'enemy of my soul' loves to whisper in my ear in times like this is, "You're all alone."

Yesterday I ran around doing packing-party-related errands and none of them had anything to do with leadership.  And, that enemy was whispering again, "You're a failure at leading.  You don't know how to delegate.  If you were a good leader you'd have people lined up to do this work."

Today we had a work day scheduled for our upcoming packing party.  Our OCC media coordinator did a good job of publicizing the event and I'd had calls from several people in the community who said they were coming.  Still, I didn't have commitments from my team or know which of them might be coming.  I had no idea what to take to the church or how to set up for the event.

So I got there early and set up four tables and 16 chairs.  I knew a reporter and photographer from the local newspaper was coming, and I was concerned that no one would be there when they arrived.

The event was scheduled to begin at 1:30 and before 1:00 several of my team members arrived to help with preparations.  Myron, a faithful friend from our small group, came and volunteered to take over cutting the rope for jump ropes.

More and more arrived--people from the community I'd never met; five associates from our local Kohl's store who were there as part of their Associates In Action program; several families with young children; two former co-workers I hadn't seen in years.  By the time the reporter came, I had set up five more tables and counted 45 people filling them.

Folks came and went throughout the day--probably at least 60 different workers all together-- and some took supplies with them so they could complete work at home.  The Kohl's associates took items to work on in their break room.

I wish I'd been able to keep better track of exactly how much we accomplished but I'd say conservatively we assembled at least 2,500 jump ropes, bagged 20+ cases of soap with 112 bars in each case, and put together a couple thousand bags of crayons.

I was even more encouraged when eight people stayed all the way until 6:30 and helped clean off and return tables and chairs and load everything back into the storage container.

Things are working out.  And I am not alone.