“Just A Little Off The Top”
Thanksgiving is often the time of year when I take stock of the events of the past months. October is often the beginning of the next summer season. Dreams and schemes are being planted and diligently cared for to slowly propagate what will eventually be next year’s summer camp!
October is also when I, the Program Director, look over the events of the summer past. The highs and the lows, or “Poops and Puddings,” as I have aptly titled them.
The list of pros and cons, wins and losses, often seems to grow with the more thought I put into it.
The trouble is, I am attempting to measure the immeasurable. Don’t misunderstand; I love a useful metric or perfectly presented statistic, but so often does this do some injustice when I think about the summer as a whole. The staff, children, and families we come across each year need to be more than statistics.
After a few months of critical analysis, I remind myself to take a little off the top, skim the surface, remove the foam, cut loose the split ends. In statistics, these “top” numbers are called outliers. They are the numbers that do not show the accurate measure of your research. Every single study has outliers, anomalies, and inconsistencies. These are often the discouraging moments, fights, or failures that could distort the picture of an otherwise glorious summer.
God grants us grace continuously and without interest or expected return. He prompts us to strive not for worldly success but life in His abundance. As followers of Christ, we get to live under this grace and enjoy the calm it brings.
Every year, around this season, I am reminded that God’s metric is different and far more complex than the metric of worldly success or progress. Self- Reflection, growth, and improvement are all attributes that I consider honorable.
Success does not mean perfection or without fault; only Jesus can be that. Perhaps it is okay to skim a little off the top and rest in His immeasurable grace.