Look over there! It's a bird! It's a plane!
Nope. It's just Alissa...tripping over her own pride, flying, through the air, and landing on her rump.
That's me.
Almost a couple weeks ago now, Josiah and I hosted The Art of Marriage at our church. We started planning early. It was going to be super awesome! I was praying for hundreds of people to be touched through this event, and I just knew we were going to change tons of marriages for Christ!!
*sigh*
Anyone remember studying Greek tragedies in high school. Each hero had a fatal flaw, and most often, it was hubris - excessive pride toward or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis.
Now, as Christians, we know there's only one God, and thankfully, He's not in the business of being our nemesis. However, when I let my pride get in the way, He is in the business of letting it get bruised a little so I can get over myself and into Him.
It really was a great event, but that had so much more to do with the fact that FamilyLife has designed an awesome DVD-based program than it did with my performance.
My planning. My performance. My plans.
I started the planning process early, but instead of reaching out to others to ask them to help in areas in which they are gifted and I am not, I decided I could do it on my own.
I got this!!
Um...no. A lot of it ended up being very last minute and hurried.
The event didn't get promoted like I really wanted it to, and we ended up only having fourteen couples in attendance (for whom we were very grateful).
I let some things fall through the cracks that I shouldn't have, and of the four people who were running the event (me, Josiah, and our friends the Antonellis), I was the only person who knew what needed to be done.
I hadn't properly shared information or given them what they needed in order for me to delegate tasks to them. In other words...information dissemination FAIL.
I had to try to remember everything.
Me...mere weeks after my graduation and the homeschool convention that took up so much brain space...with severe pregnancy brain.
In the end, it turned out okay. The most important things got done, but just like every event of this kind, there are lessons to be learned:
- Ambiance is great, but people see books better when there's light
- We bought far too many chips, but almost ran out of water. Everyone wants water...and coffee. Make sure there's lots of coffee
- I am not the Lone Ranger
That last one is a big deal.
Instead of seeking people who had gifts in certain areas to assist me, I decided I was going to barrel through the process on my own...stumbling, fumbling, and and landing with an inglorious THUD.
God can do amazing things through us, but we have to depend on Him for His wisdom. And His word says there are many gifts He's given to the members of the body of Christ, and all of them are meaningful and important and we need them ALL in order to accomplish His purposes.
From [Jesus] the whole body,
joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Ephesians 4:16
Lesson learned.
By God's grace, I am WE are going to be given another chance to put on this event in November. After a lot of prayer, Josiah and I decided that we needed to make the event available to more couples at our church and in our community who were on vacation or unavailable during the last event.
This time I won't act alone. This time I will pray, not just for the couples who will come, but for God to lead me to the help I need in order to accomplish His purposes for the event.
I'll also be praying for God to give me some bravery and boldness because I'm just really not good at asking for help...at all.
Praise God!
He is a God of second chances. His grace is abundant, His mercies new each day...and it's a darn good thing because every day I need them!!
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2
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