You see the church down the street bursting out the doors and needing a new facility. You see the organization across town booming with business.
And then there’s you. Yeah, you…
Image by Holly Lay
Your church isn’t teeming with life. People seem to be fleeing from the church rather than running towards it.
Your organization can’t seem to keep volunteers. No one wants to be a part of what you’re doing.
You can’t understand why.
But there might be a simple reason you’re not seeing people come in the doors and you can’t hold onto people.
You’ve forgotten to tend your own garden…
You’re Distracted
Whether it’s your church or your business, you’ve grown distracted from what you’ve started. You no longer see what’s happening right in front of you.
Rather, you’re looking across the street or on the other side of town.
You’ve begun to focus on what other leaders are doing in their organizations. You’ve switched your sights to see who’s doing what.
And you’ve taken your eye off of what you’ve been charged with tending.
You’re no longer tending your own garden, you’re peeking at others.
This distraction is deadly if we allow it to continue.
Tend Your Garden
You’ve been put in charge of your organization or church for a reason. You’re the one who is to take care of it.
Your responsibility is to grow the church. Your responsibility is to bring in business. Your responsibility is to attract volunteers.
But you haven’t.
You can change all of that. You’ve got to do one thing…
Shift your focus from what others are doing to focusing on what you can do for the organization you’re with.
Seek out what YOU can do. You might be surprised.
You might need to:
Pull weeds: Look for the ineffective programs or directives that aren’t creating momentum. Remove the things that aren’t producing.
Weeds take up valuable soil and nutrients that could be used for beautiful plants. Poor performing programs and directives do the same thing.
They take up resources from your organization and make it harder for the programs that are working to succeed.
Be willing to pull weeds.
Til the ground: Once you’ve pulled the weeds, begin to til the ground. When you til the ground, break the ground and mix the top with the bottom.
Tiling your organization might mean a structural change. It might mean bringing in new people. It might mean stepping aside.
Be willing to til the ground.
Plant anew: After weeds have been pulled and the ground has been tiled, it’s time to plant new seeds. You’ve got to replace the old with new.
Look for new programs that might be more effective than the previous ones. Look for initiatives that may grab the attention of workers and volunteers.
And then being inserting those into your organizations.
Be willing to plant again.
Pull more weeds: Weeding doesn’t end with the first pulling. There’s plenty more where the first batch came from.
After you’ve implemented new strategies and programs, you’ll see not all of the will be success.
Get ready to weed again. You’ll need to pull and replace once more.
Be willing to continue weeding.
Your organization is a lot like a garden. It takes hard work. Sometimes back breaking work.
You’ll have to clean out the things that are taking up space and are ineffective. You’ll have to til the ground and find freshness. You’ll have to replant and bring in new life. You’ll have to continue pulling weeds.
And you can’t do that if you’re so focused on what others are doing.
So, set your eyes forward. Get your hands dirty. And take care of the spot you’ve been placed in.
Question: Do you focus on what you’ve been given charge over or do you continuously look to see what others are doing? Why? Let’s talk about it in the comment section below.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.