Have Your People Call My People

I have agreed to chair our elementary school talent show in February. The funny thing is that I have no idea what I am doing because I have never been to one at this school before! It is not a talent show in the traditional sort of way where each child gets up one or two at a time and performs what they have prepared. No, that would take a billion hours to get through and everyone complained that the last talent show was too long. Sooooooo, I have to come up with a way of grouping the dancers with the singers with the musicians with the gymnasts and maybe throw in a couple yo-yo tricks. In the same song.

I did suggest some new things, like a demonstration area for kids who have talent (we ALL do!) who don't want to perform on stage. They can display art work, craft projects, creative writing and photography projects. My other new idea that seemed well-received was that every student participating in the show is required to have a parent help with something like set up or tear down or helping back stage or at the refreshment table. With the overall intricate coordination of each act I do not want to be distracted by our lack of volunteers. And, who knows? Some of the parents may be surprised to find that they actually ENJOY helping with their kid's activities. This could be revolutionary....this could change the world....it could........

Ok, I'm back now. The good news is that I don't feel pressured or stressed out about every little detail that needs to happen. I'm a planner. Planning invigorates me. Even when the kinks get thrown in, I like to figure out a way to fix it. Then, I like to get my hands dirty making it happen. My problem is delegation...I get too worried I'm going to bog others down and stress them out that I try to do too much myself (and throw in a little fear of the unknown since I don't always know for sure that person will follow through with their end of the deal). In the years of owning our businesses and leading within several different ministries I wish I had a better follow through of recognizing people's talents, delegating appropriate tasks to go with their talents and then releasing them to do it without worrying what could go wrong. I understand sometimes everyone needs to pitch in with the "dirty work", but I want to encourage people to grow where God has placed gifts in them, whether it is people at church, school, work and especially at HOME.

So, if there are any choreographers and musicians out there who have any advice to throw my way, I'm ready for it! I'm sure this will be the first of many posts regarding this adventure!