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Good Lessons From Strange Places
01.23.2008 by Christian
I am watching Clifford with my 3 year old and it struck me how relevant the lesson being taught in the show was to church work. I suppose that many problems we have in the church could be fixed if we were humble and mature enough to admit our immaturity and relearn our Kindergarten lessons.
This particular episode had Emily Elizabeth (Clifford’s owner) and some friends putting on a play for their neighborhood. One of the friends was the director and began to tell everybody (including the dog stage hands) how to do it “right.” One of the children was offended and gave up his role in the play because the director seemed to think she could do it better. Eventually the director took over every job because she could do it better. She proceeded to practice through the play (enjoying it I might add) until she crashed (literally). She realized how she hurt her friends and asked them back promising not to interfere.
I’m a perfectionist. Sort of. If there is something that I think should be done a particular way (i.e. the right way) then I am inclined to say something and/or take over. This is not healthy and is not conducive to good friendships. I’ve had to learn the hard way to not intrude on the work and service of others in the church. Granted, there are times when something needs to be said or done (not everybody is gifted or skilled in every way). But for me, it’s usually not being done the way I would do it, and so that would be why I speak up. I have found that more gets accomplished for the Kingdom of God when I don’t interfere and micromanage the ministries of my brothers and sisters.
Maybe you’ll find God teaching you something valuable in strange places.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Tim wrote:
I’m a perfectionist. Sort of. If there is something that I think should be done a particular way (i.e. the right way) then I am inclined to say something and/or take over. This is not healthy and is not conducive to good friendships.
Bruce replies:
I understand you! I am a perfectionist. Over the years it has hurt me and strained relationships. Disability has forced me to re-evaluate my perfectionsim.Now I can’t “do” everything so it is “done” to my lofty standard. Quite humbling.
I have always been a computer geek.(since dos days)I usually did anything tech related in the Church. Bulletins, for example. Why have some nit wit Church member do it………when you can do it faster than the time it takes ti explain it to the Church member.
I had a little epiphany in the office one day:
Just because you can do something better doesn’t mean you should.
I struggle with this. My kids accuse me of being like Mr Monk on TV. :)
Pefectionism isn’t all bad. It just needs to be controlled and sanctified.(and that’s the hard part)
Bruce
January 24th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Bruce,
Christian actually wrote that, but its nice to see another DOS refugee running around.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Ok I was writing to Christian :)
Yeah…………there are days I wish for a simple command line.
January 24th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Bruce, I appreciate that you didn’t see who wrote that. I wrote it and I wasn’t sure that the system gave me credit for writing it. (Tim, can you change that?)
I’m still dealing with the tech stuff. I print everything. I’m learning. Maybe I’m not a perfectionist, maybe I have control issues. Regardless, the point is what we can learn by thinking critically about what we read, hear, and see around us.
Thanks for reading.