My five-and-a-half-year-old son, S, and I were raking some leaves in our back yard this afternoon. (My ash tree freaks out whenever the temps drop below 60 and starts dumping it's leaves far before any other tree in the neighborhood. It's usually naked by October, but I digress...). Because the rake is slightly large for S, I thought he'd enjoy dumping the leaves into the organic waste container (nicknamed a "Yardy") with a plastic kids shovel.
As S slowly and poorly shoveled leaves into the container, I found myself internally wanting to just do it myself. I could do it better. I could do it faster. And I could do it without daydreaming and singing songs that would distract me from my job. (Well, ok, maybe not that third one...)
Then it hit me - if I want to truly be an "equipper" (we call our pastors at New Covenant "Equipping Staff") and equip others to do the ministry, I have to coach and model, but I also have to have patience and actually allow others to minister.
This path is slower. This path is bumpier. But this path will yield far better returns in the long run.
Which hopefully means my son will be able to rake the yard by himself before he's 8.
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