Sharing a Mind with my Teammates
by Lauren Garrison
My Thoughts
Prompt: Sunday’s activities introduced themes of teamwork - how to identify leadership, distribute roles, enact perseverance and flexibility, and employ encouragement in order to “win” no matter the circumstance. What did you learn about yourself from those exercises? Can you identify some roles that you are gifted in, when working on a team?
Teamwork is challenging especially when you’re developing a team dynamic without one defined goal. This missions team isn’t a basketball team where our goal is to win games and championships. However, sports can be used as a metaphor for life when it comes to shared goals and values, but the challenging thing about a group of students working together is that we are still learning what our goals are and how to articulate them. We have a shared mind in the sense that we are all learning together, but the fascinating thing about a team that has an intended purpose of being students, is that we all learn differently. We all hear main points in the context of our own experiences and lessons. We are impacted by different verses and different key words. That’s the beauty of every team, though. There is a shared goal - ours being to learn how to please the Lord and to get close to him, but we all are learning how our differences fit into “the way” that was demonstrated through Jesus’ life.
When I think about my place in the body and learning how it fits in the context of all teams and experiences, I often consider my relationships with others. It’s easy to focus on the negative aspects when I think about what comes out of me regarding my responses when I am working on a team. I am often really quiet, I am slow when it comes to processing information, I often don’t know how I can contribute, but when I focus my energy on Jesus, when I let him speak and when I do my best to implement the fruits of the spirit and the law as enacted through Jesus, he meets me. He tells me where I need to go. I often find myself, when I am disciplined in my spirituality, investing into other women around me, I see gifts in them and give them an opportunity to use them. I encourage people, especially girls, to be empowered and confident through my friendship and sight to see people’s hearts. I am determined and willing to do what is necessary in order to grow myself, a teammate, or the whole team dynamic. When I’m investing into the Lord, I can ease tension, make people feel less awkward, and reorient people so that they might take their thoughts captive.
Our roles are beautiful in the Kingdom of God because we have gifts, and we are still expected to exercise other aspects of ourselves. We push each other to grow so that we can be a dynamic team.