Sharing a scoop with STEP

On the fifth floor of an office building in downtown Cleveland I discovered what it means to be expendable. As strange as it might sound, the meeting of the STEP team this past weekend proved to me in all my over-extended, over-scheduled glory, that I am not needed every second of every day by every person in my life. What a gift to finally be granted the freedom to put my whole heart into one, definable effort for the weekend without worrying about what I had left behind in Texas or what was beginning to pile up on my plate for the following week. I, for the first time in weeks, felt that I was exactly where I needed to be.

Sometimes I think we define a good leader based on the number of things he or she has scheduled on any given day. The sheer volume of organizations, boards, leadership teams or programs that we are involved in is the standard by which we measure our ability to lead. Really, though, it is like measuring a person's ability to lead based on the number of scoops of ice cream he or she can balance on top of a cone. I does not matter who you are or how coordinated you are, if you try to balance a dozen or so scoops on top of an ice cream cone they will surely come toppling down and all you'll have left is an empty ice cream cone and a big, sticky mess to clean up. Next time you find yourself in a room full of leaders, particularly leaders who are also college students, envision that each of them is holding an ice cream cone piled high with scoops. It sounds funny, but if we can begin to visualize in some way what the young adult leaders of the church try to balance on a daily basis, we may treat one another with a bit more grace.

In meeting the members of the STEP team for the first time this past weekend it was easy to see the number of scoops that each was attempting to balance. What my fellow STEP-ers showed me, though, is how to set all but one scoop aside and focus wholly on the incredible richness that is has to offer. We spent our entire Saturday morning discussing, planning for, and refining the three projects we have in the works-Campus Chaos, an Advent devotional, and a catalogue of resource and curriculum reviews. The passion of my colleagues caused me to see that regardless of what was waiting for me when my plane touched down in Dallas on Sunday night, what I was being called to that weekend was to be fully present in the mission of the STEP team and our efforts to empower campus ministry and create resources to foster discussion of social justice issues. It was their enthusiasm and dedication, their whole-hearted and passionate involvement in the mission of STEP and the projects at hand that gave me permission to set down my tower of scoops and allow my heart and head to be fully present with them.

When God calls us, we sometimes go begrudgingly, afraid that our efforts, our love, our energy, should be concentrated elsewhere. How silly of us to think that God's love and attention is not great and wide enough to cover the bases that we cannot, for there are many, and our hands can only reach so far. I am grateful for the passion of the STEP team and the amazing mission within the church that it seeks to fulfill. And, I am grateful for the understanding of a new group of friends who don't judge a leader by the number of scoops she carries, but by the vivacity with which she dives straight into one scoop right along with them.