No, don’t get excited. I don’t like setting fires or anything, (and I really didn’t have anything to do with that certain, um, blaze, that leveled our garage a couple years ago…really). What I mean, however, is that I am an idea girl. I have a vision or I see a problem, and I light a fire.
I’m okay at building the fires, too. At least for a while. But I’m a bit ADD when it comes to staying the course. After a while, a new idea captures my attention and I move on with new zeal to new fires.
This about me used to bother me. The voices in my head said words like Failure. Or Quitter. Until I realized that it was all about perspective. I am a sprinter, not a marathoner. And that all I had to do was learn to pass the baton when I got winded.
I recently got winded. And much to my surprise, the runner who stepped up to pace me was…my son. Three years ago, I had the brilliant idea to revamp the Children’s Church in our little congregation. Starting with puppets, and a wild idea of using drama to teach kids, and building on a children’s church program we saw at a friend’s church, we put together what I like to call, “Saturday Night Live Goes to Church.” It requires a fresh script every week, participation from guest stars, the organization of costumes and props, finding sound effects and thinking outside the box. It’s a lot of creative energy that I don’t have in reserve right now.
So I asked my son to take over Children’s Church, to produce it. But I had my concerns because, well, he’s not inside my brain, and I wasn’t sure he could pull it off, that he’d have the same commitment to quality and fun.
Boy was I wrong. Creative, lively, thematic, sincere…his children’s church had it all. In fact, it was heads and tails above what I’d do. I passed him that baton and instead of slowing, tripping or even looking back, he shot off like a bullet.
Just think if I’d held on….he would have never fully found his stride. So I let go. And watched him run.
Wow, do I love being a firestarter.