My kids are teaching me how to replicate myself. It happens in the times where all four of them need me at once. Last night we were sitting at the dinner table and I decided to read to them while they ate. The first couple paragraphs were fine, but when I got on to paragraph three and four, things started to breakdown. Luther threw his water and it was dripping on the floor. Nehemiah needed more milk to drink. Zoe wanted another apple. I stopped reading.
Zoe said, “I can help Mommy.” She picked up Luther’s water, and then she asked me, “Is Nehemiah allowed to have more milk, because if he is, I can pour him some, so you can keep reading to us.”
There was another question she was asking under the surface, and that was, “Mommy, do you think I measure up?”
I realized in that moment that I could help them all at once if I trained them to do the things I can do, believed that they were capable of those things and was willing to hand them off.
I read this e-Book recently about what it takes to create a movement. The main thing I walked away with is that a movement has to be bigger than any one person, and if it is to be bigger, the person who dreams it up has to be willing to let go of some control.
I want to create a movement. It’s scary to type it, but it’s the truth. I want to create a movement of people who believe that their life is a canvas and that they can paint whatever they want on it. A movement of people who don’t settle for small stories, small dreams or small thinking. A movement of people who are determined to simultaneously believe their present reality is worth accepting and worth beautifying. A movement of people who aren’t willing to sell themselves short, even if it means there is some hard work required in creating the person they know they can be. A movement of people who aren’t intimidated by mess or imperfection. A movement of people who believe artistic, creative thinking and planning and acting cannot only change them from the inside out, but can also change a family, a community, a world from the inside out.
But the movement can not be a Mandy movement. The movement can be fueled by my passion, but that passion must at some point be replicated. I must realize that just because I’m really good at picking up spilled water bottles, pouring another glass of milk or cutting up an apple, doesn’t mean that others couldn’t be good at those things as well. A good leader believes in others. A good leader shares open-handed and says what more can you make of this? A movement can only multiply itself when the leader is willing to see potential in others and send others on their way with the belief that they can replicate themselves as well.
I love this community of people I have met through writing at Messy Canvas, and I’m amazed at the potential we all have. Many of you are going hard after big, important dreams with a great passion for life. You’re determined to do something beautiful with your canvas, even if it’s messy. I want you to know, if there is any milk pouring or apple cutting to be done, you can handle it. I am sure.
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i loved this post. and the heart behind it.
but as i was scrolling down to leave a comment i couldn’t help but notice your twitter feed and zoe’s popsicle wish…i laughed…(sorry this is random)…i remembered my daughter’s wish last night. she said, “i wish i had a brother! bella, do mommies have girls and daddies have boys? because i want a boy and mommy isn’t having one!”
i love the cuteness of our children.
okay. so. the post. it was just awesome. i have learned SO much and am LEARNING so much about releasing control and putting dreams out there (and then hiding under a rock when I say them). it’s scary to dream bigger than ourselves because we risk getting trampled on. and dreaming small (can that even be called dreaming?) means we can keep our control. Sometimes it’s scary to hand over the reigns because then the dream is morphed into someone else’s or it can be rearranged altogether.
it’s God who puts the desires in our hearts in the first place and i believe He wants us to trust that He will do something extraordinary with our ordinary lives…
but stepping out in faith and saying out loud what you think God is leading you to do is being vulnerable. and that’s a good thing sometimes, right?
“Sometimes it’s scary to hand over the reigns because then the dream is morphed into someone else’s or it can be rearranged altogether.” Yes, this is it exactly. But the rearranging of our dream is often the part where, as you said, God is doing “something extraordinary with our ordinary lives.”
Beautiful! So true- I’m so braindead right now from growing this baby but I am so looking forward to having a more inspired vision for my days here at home and beyond. Thanks for reminding me of that
I remember well the pregnancy fog. I’m glad you remember the light on the other side of that.
I’m signing up for the MOVEMENT, too!! You are so right about leaders and about replicating! I love that your daughter wanted to help you, a little Mandy-in-the-Making
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