Participating is Helping, Right?

Today was the official work day at church.



The To Do list was:

1.) Paint one building's exterior (2 colors, contrastingly different than existing)

2.) Re-landscape bed around the sign.

3.) Re-plant flowers in planter below sign.

4.) Paint new color around lighted sign.

5.) Repaint letters on church sign.

6.) Paint 4 Sunday school rooms.

7.) Remove old carpet in 2 Sunday school rooms. (circa 1970 carpet/glue)

8.) Install new carpet in 2 Sunday school rooms.



Done just to prepare for this day:

a.) Pressure wash exterior of building

b.) Remove all furniture from 4 Sunday school rooms.



12 people from another church 80 miles away came to help. 2 of them were professional painters armed with every tool necessary AND a professional grade power sprayer.

Now for the guess what part? Guess how many people from OUR church showed up? Ummm, let's just say much less a ratio than the traveling volunteer painters. And, guess how much of this list got done? About 6 out of the 8.... which I must say is pretty amazing. We are a small church with big lists.

I am pretty much useless when it comes to this stuff. I can only roll smooth walls to 6.5', and that's with an extension pole. I definitely cannot roll out that exterior paint over the bumpy stucco 14' in the air - for I have zero upper body strength. I can't do ladders. Do the math, why can't a 4'11" acrophobic chick stand on the 5th rung of the ladder for too long? So, I am officially known as 'weed puller - water getter - trim girl'.

Do you want to know what makes me the craziest about church work days? The inevitable 'let down' experience of it all. When the people who show up are the ones who are more faithful, than useful; this makes it harder to complete the project because in this instance you really need the latter. I could see the hurt from the disappointment written all over my pastor's face.

About a year ago, after an emotionally devastating experience, I stopped allowing people to 'let me down'. Allow, you say? Yes, allow. Someone can only let you down if you allow them to. If you do not place your expectations on or hold your standards up to someone else, they cannot let you down. It's impossible. Here's my list of who I can count on:

1.) God

Nice list, eh? Can I still encounter disappointment with each other with this outlook? Most certainly. As humans, we are designed for each other's company. Your friend, neighbor, husband, mother, children are just as fallible as you are. Cliff notes version: It's best to keep things in perspective and only expect what's unexpected. It's not pessimistic, it's realistic.