Mano Y Mano!

I’ve had one of those weeks that I’m glad it’s over. Yet, as I’m sitting in the large rec center room watching a bunch of my teens cooking dogs and burgers it helps me see the bigger picture in life. It’s too easy to get down when something turns out different from what was expected. Today we are partnering with the City of Phoenix doing a summer teen party. We brought probably half of the group. What’s so cool in the midst of 105 temperatures is seeing my teens and kids helping make all of this happen. I’m so thrilled to see a few of my guys actually outside cooking and doing an excellent job.

I also know that when everyone watches a few do all of the work that party time just doesn’t happen. Too often the few that are faithful do it without complaining but there comes a point when it is time to help others step up. It’s not easy for doer types to let go and allow a mess to happen so the others will at some point step up and actually do something! My hope is that the end results of a great day or event will motivate some that usually are on the sidelines to jump into the fray.

I can remember in college doing a paper in my philosophy class on the evolution of the weekend.  I wasn’t necessarily shocked to realize that the notion of a vacation, time off or an escape, is a recent invention that happened at the turn of the 1900’s. I know that a read through the Bible will show you that God intended for us to have at least one day out of seven to rest and catch our breath but the reality is that most from ancient times worked 7 days a week.

My hope is to be better at helping others choose to be doers instead of bystanders which means I have to be better at delegating and training others to step up. It is so much easier for us A types to just do the work instead of wasting time watching someone else do a half way job that we have to fix in the end. The reality is that we have gone from one extreme of always working to another where too many live for the weekend and really believe that there is some mystical person that hides and comes out when we are gone to do the work that we aren’t willing to do.

I love the sense of accomplishment when you finish something and can step back and see the benefits of your work. The challenge today is that we are usually in such a rush that quality is left by the wayside and the opportunity for developing deeper relationships takes too much time so we become superficial. I know that many hands can make short work out of any project when everyone chooses to work together. So let’s go mano y mano today and rock the world around us in our neighborhood, workplace or school.