If the ministry you are in is like the magical land of Oz, what would be the Wizard or Wizards in your Oz?
Dorothy discovers that the Wizard has no power to send her home :(
You know, those things that you do in ministry that you've been doing for as long as you can remember? Certain annual events, favorite songs that you just can't let go, maybe it's the color of the carpet or a personal conviction about hymn books? A piece of furniture, like a pulpit or a chair, that simply must be on the stage in order for greatness to happen? The process you go through when organizing a service or a production - you know what I mean, the process that you have gone through exactly, following each step just as you have for years and years... it's always worked, it always will?
THAT IS A WIZARD. The thing you place supreme importance on, measure your success by, that actually has no real power, and may be keeping you from your fullest, creative growth potential. The things that tie us to our past experiences but make it difficult to dream, envision, and develop new innovative ideas and methods.
Recently, we cleaned out our garage...there was absolutely no room to walk through it, filled with years of piled up junk
that had seemed so important when I first relocated each one to this dusty residence ... "hey, i might need that thigh master
one day!" "oh, no, not my Christmas card collection from 1986, that's when
Aunt Marla had a baby!" "keep all the neon-bunny decorations, they might
go back in style again.... someday!"
Some items are truly precious - the blanket my daughter came home from the hospital in, a lock of hair from my grandmother - but most of the stuff in there is a strange menagerie of mismatched junk, barely restrained behind the bars of their cages, begging to be set free (into the trash bin)....and it was as though I was seeing them all for the first time, through new eyes: instead of being the amazing memory catchers that I had envisioned, they became lost under similar so-called "precious" things, forgotten for years and frosted with dust (and little brown pellets that I like to pretend are raisinettes! lol)
Though I knew these things had to go - that they were not worthy of the real estate they were inhabiting - I was finding it hard to evict them... it almost felt like kicking out memories, changing political parties, drinking Pepsi instead of Coke... it didn't feel right lol
But now that it is all on it's way to the dump, or for some lucky items on their way to the donation truck, I have such a feeling of peace and calm and lightness.... the power that the items had was just a smoke screen, the false Wizard in the Oz of my garage
and every other little piece of history that didn't make the cut
followed behind - POOF! POOF! Little powerful nothings, because all my
memories, all my history with those that i love and events that mean the
most to me... they live inside me and in the ones that I love.
Some items are truly precious - the blanket my daughter came home from the hospital in, a lock of hair from my grandmother - but most of the stuff in there is a strange menagerie of mismatched junk, barely restrained behind the bars of their cages, begging to be set free (into the trash bin)....and it was as though I was seeing them all for the first time, through new eyes: instead of being the amazing memory catchers that I had envisioned, they became lost under similar so-called "precious" things, forgotten for years and frosted with dust (and little brown pellets that I like to pretend are raisinettes! lol)
Though I knew these things had to go - that they were not worthy of the real estate they were inhabiting - I was finding it hard to evict them... it almost felt like kicking out memories, changing political parties, drinking Pepsi instead of Coke... it didn't feel right lol
But now that it is all on it's way to the dump, or for some lucky items on their way to the donation truck, I have such a feeling of peace and calm and lightness.... the power that the items had was just a smoke screen, the false Wizard in the Oz of my garage
and every other little piece of history that didn't make the cut
followed behind - POOF! POOF! Little powerful nothings, because all my
memories, all my history with those that i love and events that mean the
most to me... they live inside me and in the ones that I love.
And now, I am sitting in my empty garage, and making plans for it! What can this space be used for? A recording studio? or a perfect spot for a ping pong table, couch, and dart board? a home gym? Amazing how creativity can flow when all the clutter is cleared away.
... when all the so-called Wizards, all the things that clutter our mind and space, are put in their place, we can truly grow away from them...and into bigger, richer, fuller dreams and achievements.
Past experience should be a spring board for future risks, not a safety trap or security net. What is keeping you feeling safe? It may be keeping you restrained. What habit or process has become absolutely necessary to your ability to produce results? It may just be the thing that is keeping you from achieving amazing, awesome things in ministry.
