Does it show?

One year, for my Birthday, my parents came to town and we went to dinner at Buca di Beppo. As we were waiting on our meal, I commented that the interior decor of the restaurant reminded me of what the inside of my sister's head must look like!  (My sister is a very fun loving, exciting, bright and colorful girl, who loves a crowd and has an affinity for bright shiny objects!) We all laughed and enjoyed the rest of our time there!

If your brain were a room, what would the interior design layout look like? 

I don't know about you, but when my life is crazy, so is my house!  You can tell the kind of  day/week/month/year  that I am having by walking in my front door.

 Hear me out!

I do not need to be on the next episode of "Hoarders: Buried Alive," but I if there were a show about clutter and nothing really having a place, then I could probably occupy a 30 minute episode!

I believe this is probably true for all of us.  Sure, some of us are probably better at hiding it than others, maybe you do the exact opposite as me. Maybe when your life seems "crazy," your house is spotless, seeing housework as something you can actually control!

Those of you clean-organizing types are like aliens to me.  I believe that secretly, somewhere in your home you have a messy drawer, closet, basement, or cabinet that nobody knows about!

Those of you who are fans of the show "FRIENDS" will remember that even the neurotic, clean freak
Monica Geller had a crazy closet that she kept locked and wouldn't let anyone see.

Maybe you think, "I can't control all the chaos in my life, but I can control my house," and so that is how you  can best cope!

I have been there too! ....ish.
(You would be amazed at what giving me an hour with a container of Clorox Wipes would do for a kitchen on a stressful day!)

My husband says I need to do what he does and have "file folders" in my mind.  Just like with any file cabinet, I would be able to keep my thoughts,emotions and anything else I feel like I need to "manage" in order, by prioritizing each one in a nice and neat system.  It's easy for him.

(I picture the inside of his mind to look like one of those sparkly clean rooms in a 

"Mr. Clean" commercial.)

I am someone who will start my car and spend the next 5 minutes digging in my purse, looking for my keys.  I do most things on auto-pilot because I live my life in worrying I need to do next, rather than being in the moment and being deliberate.  Chaos paralyzes me and makes it difficult for me to know what to do first.

I need to find a way to push through my natural tendency to daydream and easily distracted by the "bright and shiny" of the world and create a system in which I can focus long enough to put things back where they belong-and not just set it somewhere-never to be seen again.

This is not to say that how you or I run our homes are right or wrong, but more a practice in doing things that are more purposeful.

I am tired of reacting to chaos in my cluttered life and desire to slow my brain down and be more intentional and calculated in my day to day things.  As much as I would love it, I am not going to wake up tomorrow and be as domestic as Martha Stewart!  It is going to take effort on my part-not just one day but every day. 

Dang.

I QUIT!

Here is a question:

Is MORE better?

In your life, what does MORE look like?

MORE.... 

work

money

volunteers

kids

friends

time

sleep

programming

furniture

books

classes

clothes

shoes

chocolate

I don't know about you but I spend a ton of time dreaming about MORE, which I am realizing means I am not content with what I HAVE.

(This is not to sound preachy... at all.)

I love MORE MORE MORE!  I am the most guilty!

Is it me, or does it feel like the MORE _____________ you get, the MORE complicated life gets.

I think this is true for everything.

When I worked for church, I thought the more classes, more events, more outings, more volunteers, and more people that we had, the better our ministries would be.

What I learned was we burned out.

We did too much.

In doing too much, we didn't do a whole lot of anything with excellence, we just did it half way-for the sake of doing it.


I was tired, my team was tired, and we didn't have the energy to do anything anymore.

I spent a lot of time talking about how PRO FAMILY I was-and the church was, but everything we did cancelled out what we said and made it seem we were actually ANTI FAMILY.

The more programming and events we offered, the more people it took to pull it off, the people (the families) who worked so hard for us, never had a chance to be home together.

We were stretching them thin, rushing their time for dinner, for homework, time to just be in the same room together.


You can fill in the blanks of what MORE has done in your own professional and personal life.

I imagine a merry go round, spinning around and around, faster and faster, then realizing that it's going too fast and you are feeling "woozy."  It's hard to get the merry go round to stop, there has been too much force and momentum building up to where you find yourself.  There are other people involved!  They might be enjoying the ride and you feel bad about wanting them to stop-so you can get off!

Sure! You can stay on the ride...  but you will end up puking all over your friends and who wants to clean that mess up?  I would rather make some people mad, than have them clean up my mess.

Simplify.  Do just ONE thing (THE MOST IMPORTANT THING) with excellence, then add something else.

TIP:
Ask yourself what the most important thing in your life is and quit everything else until you are doing that one thing with excellence.

I recently decided to do this. For the last 6 months I have stepped away from everything on my calendar.  I am not committed to doing anything.  My life has been a big ball of clutter and it was wearing me down.  I has not been easy-in fact it has been one of the most difficult things I have ever done.  I am a YES person.  I never say NO.  .........and that finally caught up to me.

I can tell you that my time looks differently and that I am finally finding time do things that I love again.

Sometimes, you just gotta rebuild yourself.

There was a book mark I had when I was in middle school that said

"THE MAIN THING IS TO KEEP THE MAIN THING, THE MAIN THING."

What is it for you?

Maybe it's your health.
So drop everything that is cluttering up your ability to focus on diet and exercise, so that you can focus on it!

Maybe it's your time-maybe you feel like your calendar is running your life.
So cancel appointments, quit signing up for things, get yourself in control of your time, THEN add to
 it.

Let's stop the glorification of more.

Currently listening to: CONSTANT

This Is Today..

(This is not my picture, I do not own it.)

I have grown up watching The Today Show.  I remember Jane Pauley, Bryant Gumble, Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, Ann Curry, Willard Scott, Al Roker, and the whole he-haw gang that have followed.  

Over the last year, I have been watching how The Today Show has been transforming how they do the news.  It is my understanding that ratings have been down and they are trying some new approaches to grow their audience.

I have noticed these 3 things.

1. ENVIRONMENT. They changed the entire set- what use to be a more library feel,is now a modern and colorful stage, with several elements.  The big  window, where fans stand out and wave at people back home.  The new "Orange Room" that is made especially to catch up on social media buzz with one time time host of MTV's TRL (Total Request Live) Carson Daly.  

2. AUTHENTICITY/CONNECTION. The broadcasters engage with each other, with the viewing audience, and with the crowd outside differently than they have in the past.  I have noticed that everyone seems to be less uptight and rehearsed.  Each person on the show seems to have a refreshing authenticity about them. Each, having their own personality and style.  They seem like real life people instead of robotic talking heads.
They laugh!  They are willing to do things that they aren't comfortable doing- they talk about their personal lives such as weddings, marriage, parenting, pregnancy, childhood memories, personal experiences that we, the viewer can relate with!

I trust them more knowing that they are everyday people like you and I.

3. FIRST IMPRESSION. 

 Listen, as I type this, I am wearing a sweatshirt that has survived at least 2 of my pregnancies.  Its old, stretched out and ugly.  I have no reason to judge how anyone dresses, but I can tell you that, I will connect to someone wearing fashionable trendy clothing over someone wearing a suit.  

Every single time.

As church leaders of the next generation, there is something that we can learn from watching how The Today Show is rebranding.  They are trying to reach a new generation.  They see that our generation has razor sharp "fake indicators."    We are craving authenticity.  We want to learn and grow from hearing other's stories.  We want to know that we are all just people and none of us actually know what we are doing.

Researchers show that somewhere between 60-80% of my generation has left the church.

I believe it.

....and I love the church.

We/they left because we/they are sick and tired of legalism and fake people.  This generation sees that the church is swarming with those kind of people.


The church is losing their audience.

But, hey! I think there is good news! Aren't WE the church?   The church isn't a building-the church  is people!  

Buildings can't make changes and pick up their crosses and carry it with them daily!  Buildings can't be  the hands and feet of Jesus...but people can!

Can we make church a place where un churched people like to come to?

Is it worth it? (the answer is yes.)

It is not about our personal preference.  It's about our hands and feet reaching out to those who haven't heard, haven't seen, haven't tasted the good news of Jesus!

To those of us who are already followers of Jesus: it's our responsibility to grow OURSELVES.
 Jesus didn't say
"Hey, those of you that are in this with me, all you need to do is go to church on Sunday, sing songs  that you prefer, drink coffee, eat cookies, dress up and only hang out with other Christians. It will be like a fun social club! Oh! ...and  make people who don't believe in me, feel really uncomfortable when they visit your church. Your only job is to be comfortable until you die."


Instead he said GO!  GO tell people!  He even showed us how!  Jesus  never sat around and waited for people to come to him, Jesus went to them! Jesus knew that people connect best with stories and so he told them RELEVANT stories that they could relate to.

If  He were here today, I believe Jesus would take a look around the community that he was in, and figure out the best way to relate to those people-then he would do it.

Case and point: THE WELL 

How do we do that? Well, it's not going to be by the way we did in the past.

(Insert the definition of insanity here.)

I think that we start by removing our preferences and creating a place that is not intimidating and doesn't feel like a funeral home.

Lastly, the one thing I notice the most about The Today Show transformation is that their message is still the same.  They are still giving us the news...  they have just packaged it differently.

We need to carry the next generation on our shoulders and cheer them on!  Make banners that say

"GO do whatever you need to do to tell others about Jesus!  We support you!"  

It's worth it.

It's not about me-or you.
Steal my show.

Preface:

So in 2005 we were attending a church in Indianapolis and one Sunday after church there was this booth set up in our lobby.  There was a table with a sign that said "THINK ORANGE" with red, yellow, and orange construction paper circles cut out and hanging from  drop ceiling. I walked straight over and asked what "THINK ORANGE" meant.

The volunteer at the booth recited a simple strategy that has influenced my life's direction ever since.

She said: "Well when you COMBINE yellow and red you get orange and we think that in Children's ministry, when yellow (the church) and red (the family) work together, we make orange (kids.)"

It was like my whole life made sense!



I signed up to lead the 1st grade girls small group and went on my merry way.

Through this time, I decided to go back to college and get my degree in ministry and in doing so, I found out about a church across town, that could be in need of leadership in the Children's Ministry department... and so began my internship as a Children's Ministry Director.



 I googled "Think Orange" regularly.  I was craving more information about this strategy.  I called Children's Pastors and asked what they knew.  I watched as this company,
The reThink Group evolved.  I bought the curriculum with my own money, I read the books, I listened to the podcasts, I purchased the training videos, I trained my team, I pitched the vision...and in 2008, I heard about The Orange Conference in Atlanta, GA.

By attending this conference, I  have grown in my own leadership and have been challenged in how we should lead the next generation. Ask anyone who knows me, and they we will tell you, I am all in!  I have spent the last 8 years attending The Orange Conference and have never walked away from it disappointed.



Like, ever.



This year, through a "Hustle" assignment lead by Jon Acuff,  I mustered up the courage to make a large request. Working for The reThink Group would be a dream come true.  With Jon's push,  I identified someone with whom I had a connection at "Orange" and asked if there was any way that I could spend this year's conference watching how it all worked. From set up to tear down and all that was in between.

I hit send on the email and held my breath....

and wouldn't you know it, she came back with an offer to "shadow" her throughout the conference and take it all in!


Over the next few days, I will be recounting my time and the things I learned along the way.

#hustle