Kid's Ministry Coffee Break | A Few Minutes of Spiritual Refreshment for Children & Youth Ministers.
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
"ALL I CAN DO" Kids Ministry Coffee Break 10: In the moments where you feel overwhelmed and outmatched, trust your calling. Relax, think, pay attention, and do the best you can...and let it be enough.
Coffee Break 10 - All I Can Do
On February 14th, 2008 I was a server at a restaurant which no longer exists. It was a hotspot for Valentine’s Day reservations.
In the thick of the rush the manager comes to me and says…he didn’t ask…he says, “Joe, one of the serves is being sent home and you’re going to take over their tables. They have 3 tables, 2 of which have people just arriving right now.” 5 tables needed visited to say hello, get drink orders, address questions, and then I had to get their drinks quickly enough to then start taking orders all while not ignoring any of the 6. In that moment, my heart sank to the floor. This is too much. It was a living nightmare—because I had nightmares all the time of exactly these circumstances. Maybe you have them about your job—the ones where everything goes wrong and you are completely overwhelmed. There I was…in the thick of the rush…completely overwhelmed and frozen in my tracks. The manager walked away—probably seeing the look on my face and making a fast exit before I could respond. What do you do when you have more to do than you can do? What do you do when the expectations are beyond your capability?
A calm washed over me in that moment. A realization came to my head—I can only do what I can do. And then…I claimed that truth. I said it out loud, “I can only do what I can do.” I cannot do what I cannot do. I cannot expect myself to do what I cannot do. No one else can expect me to do what I cannot do.
Whatever comes from this evening—good, bad, ugly, embarrassing…it’s beyond my control. I decided in that moment still standing there that I would simply take my time and make the most of every decision I made. I wasn’t going to run around like a maniac, because that would only cause more problems for me and my peers and my patrons. I walked calmly the whole night. I did all of the drink orders at once. If I had to take a trip to the back of the restaurant for a drink or napkin or whatever, I took a few seconds to think about other things I could accomplish in that trip. I gave my best effort to be as intentional and excellent as I could. And I trusted that to be enough…because it had to be. That was all I could do.
People at the tables did not have the fastest service of their lives, but I didn’t make mistakes. I took my time talking with them. I looked at every drink each time I walked by to see if I could go ahead and grab one or two on my next trip to the back so that I wouldn’t suddenly find 10 glasses needing refilled.
The night ended up being joyful. Stressful, but joyful. I made the best tips of my life that night. That night was not what I had planned. But I have looked back to that moment in front of my manager dozens of times since. In moments when I feel overwhelmed and the task before me suddenly becomes a mountain I wasn’t prepared to climb…I remember that calm.
I can only do what I can do. I cannot do what I cannot do. I cannot expect myself to do what I cannot do. And no one else can either.
I’ll do all I can do and trust that is enough. Because it has to be. Some people say, “God will never give you more than you can handle.” I prefer to say, “God will help you handle all you’ve been given.” Sometimes the results aren’t as joyful as that night at the restaurant, but that’s okay.
As long as I know I’ve given my best effort and been intentional with every step I took, I can be at peace. I can learn from mistakes, but I can also be at peace. If you are facing a monumental task today, breathe…pray…and let God’s peace wash over you. Just do all you can do. Do it as best as you can.
Message brought to you by Rev. Joseph Sanford from The Sanford Curriculum written by Joseph and Lauren Sanford and available
https://sundayschool.store/
Music brought to you by The Muse Maker: themusemaker.com
https://10bibleverses.com/scripture-quotes/bible-verses-about-calling/
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