On Our Way To Crazy

Sometimes you work really really hard to plan a youth event and it all works out exactly the way you wanted – the kids have fun and bond and no one feels left out and all the details fall right into place.

But sometimes you work really really hard to plan a youth event and it all works out… just okay. You have some clique-y division within the group, there’s drama, and the details you thought would run smoothly turn out to be kind of a mess.

I had the second kind of event this weekend. Coming off of our missions camp, the kids were really fired up to put what they learned into action at home. So we started a program called Second Saturday, where the kids will serve in different capacities around town on the second Saturday of each month. To kick it off, we had sleepovers on Friday night before we all went out to the food pantry together on Saturday morning.

And it was… fine. The boys’ sleepover went really well, but the girls’ was pretty high drama. Lots of new girls and a pretty good dose of attitude added up to a big ol headache for me. The food pantry wasn’t quite ready for the number of kids we brought and we were done with everything about an hour before parents came to pick them up. The directions that got everyone else there in plenty of time somehow got me so lost that someone had to come get me and my 6th grade girls. I was dealing with drama drama drama right up until the last parent car pulled out of the parking lot.

Lots of good stuff happened, too, of course. The girls in my car were all first-timers and we had quite the adventure together. The kids brought a lot of food to donate to the pantry and were able to get some big projects done for them. We spent the last hour at the food pantry playing games in the parking lot and it was a blast. But I wanted so much for this weekend to be a homerun, and it just wasn’t. And I know that it’s okay, and that in reality no one really knows about the issues but me. But I know. And I don’t like it.

I love love love my job. I love that carving pumpkins and making up silly songs and stealth hugging are all things that I get paid to do. But sometimes it really wears me out. I hate working so hard and creating so much build up and energy only to be let down when it’s all over.

But the kids had a good time. They helped out. And we are working hard to make service just something they do. It’s something we really value and that can make a difference in a lot of lives, including theirs, for a long time.

And all of that is more important than how I feel about how it happens.