Kelly Garrett, Senior Director of Operations
I volunteered at my Grandson’s school last month; I was the ticket lady for the basketball games that day. The first game was for the 1st grade team and let me tell you I sold a lot of tickets, the bleachers were full of Mum’s, Dad’s Grandparents, Aunties, siblings – there were poster boards and pompoms. They came out and they were serious about supporting their players. The game was as you would expect for such young kids but anytime a child touched the ball the crowds erupted in cheers and yells.
Once that game was over and the gym cleared it was time for the High School team to play. I sold four tickets. Four! There was only the coach from the away team and four adults to support Bayshore. Not a poster board in sight and certainly no pom poms.
Made me think when do we get to the age where people stop cheering for us, where the crowd of supporters stops showing up.
For a lot of us this has been A WEEK, I would say we have a few on the bench nursing some injuries and some who feel like the crowd has not shown up for them. When we look at Biblical lessons the Bible is crammed full of accounts where Jesus, the Disciples, God Himself showed up and cheered on those who needed it.
Our agency is founded on the tenants of servant leadership which means we show up not just for the easy things (like adorable 6-year-olds chasing a ball twice their size) but the much harder things. We show up when there is tension with a coworker, when participants are rude or dirty, when the AC isn’t cooling the office – when the work is hard we show up and we cheer for each other, for our people and for the work we do.
“Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out…spurring each other on” – Hebrews 10:24 – The Message
Make a plan to show up in a new way next week. If you look to the right, you may even see me, I’ll be the one with the poster board and a balloon!
Thanks
KG