Day 4 Reflections

4️⃣ observations on day 4️⃣!

1️⃣ Expectations often need to be adjusted. This does not mean lowering your standards, but it does mean adjusting the expectations based on the situation, facts, and circumstances. I enjoy lawn mowing and love, love, love the clean crisp lines of freshly mowed grass, especially on a nice diagonal perpendicular to the previous mowing. Today, I was mowing vacant lots with sometimes knee high “grass” on a riding mower that was NOT zero turn. The wavy lines from treeline and the long grass sneakily escaping the blade here and there would not meet my normal expectations, but that wasn’t reasonable or even possible in the circumstances. The lots looked fantastic when we finished. REVISED expectations exceeded!

2️⃣ You never know what is lurking beneath…so it isn’t a bad idea to use a little caution. We’ve repeatedly reminded the youth not to stick there hands in piles and always wear your gloves. A simple piece of trash that appears to be a napkin may be a full used diaper, a little pile of grass may be a hunk of concrete from the recent house demo waiting to eat you (or your mower blade) alive!

2️⃣.5️⃣ Teamwork – I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot. Together, we can do great things! Mother Theresa

This is true on so many levels and for so many reasons. On a riding mower, I could not mow over all the ruts and steep inclines, over concrete chunks and next to flower boxes. The Weed Whacker Team was on it. They could’ve weed whacked the three lots all through the night. But together, we accomplished so much more. The same is true not only for using the physical tools but also for using our spiritual tools. We all have different God given gifts and when we bring them all together to serve, the outcome is so much sweeter!

3️⃣ Celebrate with a smile or ice cream or both! True to form, Kyle found us another ice cream treat after a long hot day of hard work. You may think the highlight was the ice cream itself, but it may have been the big smile on a little boys’ face at the ice cream shop!

3️⃣.5️⃣ The irony isn’t lost on me…

🍃We have spent hours volunteering this week doing landscaping and yardwork to help revitalize Detroit, meanwhile I’m paying a small fee to have major landscaping done at home.

🥧Kyle urgently made sure all the GCC adults were in the parking lot this evening because the youth paid to throw a pie in Dan-Dan’s face. He thought she was the perfect one to pie. But when the time came, they pied Kyle Brown and HE was the perfect one to pie!

🚙 The roads in Motor City are nothing short of awful!

🏙 Detroit has a bad reputation for Crime, Corruption, and the Car Industry (or decline of such). There is even a store Detroit vs Everybody. No one wants to go to Detroit. Well, no one except me – now! There are so many things I’ve enjoyed or would like to try another time. I’m not against Detroit, I’m with them!

4️⃣ Simple things in life are often the most fun…

🏃🏽‍♂️Youth racing their pastor down the street AFTER a full work day. Kyle was solidly in the middle of the pack. As he’s approaching 40 years old, a 40m dash was all he could handle. My money is on the youth in any longer race!

🎨Tonight, we went for a walk in the Eastern Market neighborhood and looked at the massive, colorful, and creative murals while snappimg fun photos and engaging in meaningful conversations. Who knew the paint on the outside of a building could be so aamaxikg and impactful.

Finally I leave you with the quote on one of the murals… They thought they could bury us, but they didn’t know they we were seeds. This incredible mural and quote led to engaging discussions about different perspectives of the mural. It can be interpreted and applied in so many situations, I’ll be unpacking that one for a while!

Yes I said 4.

Yes I can count.

Yes I lied.

Shortsweet is not exactly my style.

But this introvert needs some downtime and reflection at the day and makes for good Facebook memories down the road!

Love with your laugh. Love with your smile. Love with your eyes. Love. ❤️