“Not every opportunity is meant to be MY assignment.” – Lysa Terkeurst (emphasis added by me)

Growing up I was THAT kid in class. The one that threw up their hand with the answer before the teacher finished asking the question. That turned in papers and assignments following the guidelines to a T. I grew up being a very literal child who would overextend herself in fear of being labeled “unnecessary” or “useless.” As a child this might not seem like a big deal, as an adult this can become a habit that creates burn out, isolation, and resentment to those not pulling “sufficient weight.”

I always hated group assignments or projects. More often than not the project ended up on my desk and I did the entirety of the work myself and just wrote everyone’s names on it. This might have been from my tendency to overwhelmingly take ownership of the project or due to the fact that group projects hardly ever get done by group effort. Most people are too happy to let others take control and take responsibility to getting the job done. However, you want to speculate how I ended up doing all the work on my group projects the flashbacks to high school and college assignments have created a cynicism to team or group events in my adult life.

Hearing this quote by Lysa in my devotional one morning a few weeks ago, I thought it was nice and so, I wrote it down on a sticky note and placed it on my computer at work. It stayed there for a few weeks and one day it hit me. There are things that are meant to be mine and just as there are jobs and opportunities that are meant to be mine that means there are things that are meant to be someone else’s. Not every questions is meant for me to answer. Not every job is meant for my hands to do. Not every project is meant for me to plan and execute. There are things in this life that are meant for someone else. Not every assignment is supposed to be turned into a high school “group” assignment. Some projects, some opportunities, are better suited for someone else to do.

In no way does that negate or detract from my responsibility and work to be done. In fact by releasing what’s not mine I have more strength, more patience, more focus on what I am supposed to be doing. Just because it’s not mine doesn’t mean it’s not valuable.

This is the eighth year our church has put on a ministry called “Daily Bread.” This ministry is designed to collect, package, and deliver food into the hands and households that need it the most. Annapolis, Maryland many people would be surprised to hear houses a large community of people that are struggling to put food on their tables. It’s not all sailboats and midshipmen. There’s a good portion struggling to stay afloat among the high standard of living. In response as a church body we try to reach out beyond our walls and go where the need is. It’s a large scale ministry event that costs just shy of $20,000 to execute, months to plan and coordinate, and needs over 150 people in order to carry out the day of delivery.

This is my fourth year being a part of the administrative team and each and every year I learn something new about my church, my team, and myself. This year more than any of the other years I feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself, my “leadership” style, and my potential to facilitate the growth of others. This is only possible when I stay in my lane. When I allow others to see their own potential and to test out their gifts in service. You need to be willing to let others get the job done even if it’s not “your” way or the “perfect” way. My job was now to facilitate others doing the work of this ministry and to be honest, it’s been hard. It’s been hard to ask someone to do something that I could easily do in the time it takes to explain or show them what to do. It’s hard to ask someone to do a job that deep down I would dread doing. It’s hard feeling like I might be “ordering” someone’s actions. But that is just a flaw in my perspective.

In reality, my job is to create events in which others get to experience the joy of service. In which other’s get to experiment with their spiritual gifts and get to explore how they can serve the kingdom. Not every opportunity, but most. There are some things that are uniquely mine to do. There are some meetings or things that are reserved for the core team to accomplish because that IS our job. You see, the day of Daily Bread hundreds of volunteers are going to get to pick up a box, knock on a door, and talk to someone. They get to talk to someone in our community that needs help. They might get to pray with them or share a story. They might get to reach into that person’s life and be an answer to a specific prayer. They get to be the hands and feet of God that day. That is not my job.

My job is to give them the tools. My job is to plan. My job is to watch and witness the miraculous stories that will unfold before my eyes. My work is everything up until the last box is loaded onto the final truck and then I need to let go and let others take the baton. Because, life and most importantly the Christian life, is a group project with shared work and responsibility. Opportunities meant to be lived out by a team, not by “that one kid” sitting in the front row anxiously taking notes and doing the group assignment by themselves. That kid misses the reason for the mission and the opportunity to help someone else see THEIR opportunity to serve.