What am I handing off

I have recently had to consider the possibility of turning over a couple of things that I have been working on to someone else because of new opportunities. Whenever I am presented with a new adventure I spend a lot of time looking forward. A sort of anxious energy takes over and I find myself daydreaming about what this new chapter will hold. I suspect I spend too much time anticipating the future and neglecting the present. That may be an entry for another time. What has fascinated me is how these opportunities have caused me to look at what I am potentially handing off to someone else. Just like in a football game the exchange between players of the ball is critical. If one or the other fumbles the ball than catastrophe ensues. So a lot of time and energy by way of practice and planning occurs to make sure the exchange is smooth and I think I get that. That is not necessarily new information. In order for any transition to occur smoothly the hand off must be successful. However I have been thinking about what am I handing off. In my sports analogy, what is the ball?

I am on staff at a multi-site church. It's a fun environment but a challenging one at times. It's easy to feel like things are moving so fast that no one would notice if I fell off the ride. We talk all the time about reproduction and not in just the sexual sense. Everything we do is dependent on our ability to reproduce what we do. I understand the benefits of reproducing myself by investing in others, it is ultimately the example that Jesus set. The 2 Timothy 2:2 principle. I even understand the idea that as I build ministry programs that there is benefit in considering is this something I can reproduce. I used to run into that challenge all the time in the business world as a service manager. Was I prepared to do something for a customer once or was it something I could reproduce and offer to every customer? What has surprised me through the process is considering what am I handing over. How much do I value it? How much does it mean to me personally? Am I proud to hand it over or do I look on it with shame and embarrassment?

This process has produced in me this self examination of not just the things affected by these new opportunities but everything. As a Christ follower I believe everything in my life is a gift from God. Too often though I treat the things I do and the relationships I have as my own. The danger is if they are mine to own then I do not ever consider the fact that someday somebody else might own them. Do I really hold all the things I do, and that are so dear to me as the precious gifts they are? Mine to steward and experience for however long God deems appropriate. If I really approach everything from the standpoint that I may have to turn it over to someone else then I treat them differently. I think about it a lot as it pertains to my kids. As they get older I do hand them off relationally to friends, coworkers, romantic relationships or whomever. Have I invested in my kids so that when I hand them over to other relationships of significance am I proud of what I have handed off? Do I properly communicate to them and therefore to the other people they will relate to how much I value that relationship? Do they know that I consider every moment I spend with them a precious gift from God? Only if I act that way. Only if I dedicate the time, energy, blood, sweat, tears and whatever else is required to invest in them and raise them up to be able to reproduce that same thing in their relationships. I just have really been challenged to consider everything I do from the perspective that it is mine to steward and care for only for a set period of time. I need to do it in a manner that makes it something I am proud to hand off. Something that is hopefully better off for the time spent with me and hopefully I am better off for having invested myself in something.