Enamored By Numbers

I think for most (if not all) people involved in ministry, it is easy to get caught up in numbers. If one has a program or event and attendance is good, it leaves the planners with a sense of satisfaction. The opposite can be true if numbers are low – leaders can walk away deflated. We can become enamored by the numbers.

I remember something I read years ago (in the book Purpose Driven Youth Ministry I think): It’s easy to compare what you don’t know about someone else with what you do know about yourself. If I see what I consider success in another program and compare it to mine, it could leave me feeling unsuccessful.

I’m not sure how to get away from the numbers game. It is A way to determine success and fruit, but not THE way to determine it. There definitely is value in tracking the number of people involved in programs, groups, events, etc. I guess the challenge for the leader is not to live and die by the numbers.

I’m not the first to discuss the tension that exists and I really don’t have great, clear-cut advice for people in leadership positions. There are people smarter and more experienced than me that could speak to it. Just in the past few weeks I’ve been caught up in that tension and kind of chuckle at myself when I get either too high or too low based on the turnout for a particular program or event. I’m still working through it and manage it better some days versus others. Guess we are a work in progress.

Still Learning Patience

Over the Labor Day weekend I tried to tackle a small project at home…at least I thought it was going to be small. You think I would have learned by now that any project at home is never small. It all goes so smoothly and easily in my mind, but then when it comes to the actual doing of said project, it is neither smooth nor easy.

This particular project involved disconnecting the water softener so we could move it and get behind it to check on what we thought was a leak. I looked at the configuration of the water heater and how it was connected to the copper pipes. I looked at the owner’s manual to see how everything was to be connected so I would be able to get everything back together.

The disconnection happened smoothly enough and I thought this was going to be a pretty easy fix. We identified the problem of the leak (and perhaps have that issue addressed). Then came the reconnecting of the water softener.

That is when I realized I still need to learn patience.

What I thought would take under an hour took much longer. Each time I thought that I had things reconnected, I would turn the water back on and it would leak. I tried something else and it didn’t work. My stress level kept going us as I thought that without this connection in place, we wouldn’t have water in the house. Finally I placed a call to a friend who is good at home repair and got some insight. After a run to Lowe’s (which thankfully was still open), I got what I needed. While that finally took care of the leak, it was not without its own frustrations as well.

I realized that I still need to learn patience.

While I have learned that I am not the best at home improvement, I have been able to tackle some small repair issues. This particular project got under my skin very quickly and I found myself frustrated in a fairly short period of time.

If I would have exhibited more patience at the beginning, I think the project would have gone much smoother. Just when I think that I’m learning patience, I discovered I have some work to do. While things turned ok in the end, I failed miserably at exhibiting a patient attitude.

This weekend taught me I am still learning patience. I’m grateful God gives me opportunities to learn and is patient with me when I am not.