Less Perfectly Penned

“Less perfection, more production.” This is one of those repeated messages from God in my life. Do you get repeated messages, too? I wonder sometimes if I am the only slow learner needing so much reteaching!

My first lesson in this area was in delegation. As a young teacher, Sally Beard, a teaching teammate in Lubbock Texas, saw me measuring the spaces between the perfectly-cut letters I had just made for my bulletin board one day and told me I did NOT have time to do that. She did not hesitate to mentor me by sharing some of her effective practices in running a classroom, and I am forever grateful that she cared enough to do so. Needless to say, she was a devoted follower of Jesus and a lover of His soul and of His people. I learned that giving up control of the bulletin board to some trustworthy moms freed me to focus on that which was of greater priority, while also valuing their gifts, service and investment in their children’s lives. It promoted both productivity and relationships. How cool is that?

A second lesson learned was from another fellow educator who took the time to mentor me in school administration. I was the Assistant Principal to Julie Combs, a highly-respected elementary school principal in town. I remember noting how her emails were void of punctuation and capital letters on occasion, and how her plans and notes were oftentimes a somewhat messy combination of typing and handwriting. Neither of these examples appeared perfect to me, yet they were both productive. I learned that the time it would have taken her to perfect her projects was sometimes not worth the payoff. Instead, lack of perfecting sometimes produced a larger payoff, because it provided her more time for other priorities.

As such, I am considering writing less perfectly more often in this venue. Please let me know what you think! Also, if you do not have a blog account set up so you can comment, I encourage you to do so. It isn’t difficult to do, and it will allow more than just me to read your comments, promoting more community and conversation. Many of you email me directly, and I love that. But I’d also love for you all to connect with one another. The purpose of my blog should be more than an outlet for my very opinionated nature. It must be about promoting greater good in the world, and our collective opinions will do more to accomplish that than any one person’s could do alone.