“Clean up, clean up.  Everybody, everywhere. Clean up, clean up. Everybody, do your share.”

My great niece and I sang this song when I had the pleasure of babysitting her recently. I was amazed at how quickly she worked to put the pieces of the games back into their boxes just by repeating this little tune. While many hands made light work, adding a bit of music made it even lighter.

 
As a former corporate America employee, I had the opportunity to not only be part of many teams, but also to serve as a team leader. Project plans neatly documented everyone’s tasks and when each did their part, the goal was accomplished.
 
That’s not always the case. Not everyone does their share. Not everyone does their best. Not everyone wants to be on the team in the first place. These disconnects can have disastrous results.
 

 

My daughter experienced this with a school project. Classmates who committed to doing their part did not deliver. To avoid a potentially bad grade, others, mostly my daughter, had to pick up the slack.
 
Afterwards, I asked her what she thought the problem was. Were outside forces at play? Was there miscommunication? Were tasks assigned to the wrong people? As one might expect, there was a touch of all of these factors with this particular project. The lesson learned? Pick a different team next time.
 
Makes perfect sense. When you have the right person for the task at hand, things go so much smoother.

 

 
This lesson has come alive for me as of late as I’m realizing that I too have assigned a task to the wrong person. That person? God.You see, I’ve been looking to God to do things that I could be doing myself. To make matters worse? I’ve been telling God exactly how to do the thing I should be doing!
 
In my defense, don’t we all do this from time to time? Don’t we try to tell God what to do in our lives to make them a bit easier? Don’t we all want some miraculous event to happen that magically makes our dreams come true? Would be nice but I don’t think it works like that.
 

 
I’ve read many Bible stories about miracles: physical healings, water turning into wine, a handful of bread and fish feeding thousands. In each of these stories, a problem was presented to Jesus with an expectation of Him doing something about it. However, if you look closely, you’ll see that while Jesus did perform the miracle, it was only after some action was taken by the person requesting it.
 
The blind man had to go to the river and wash the mud Jesus placed on his eyes so he could see. The guests at the wedding had to fill the vats with water before it was turned into wine. The apostles had to gather up the five loaves of bread and fish before it could be turned into a meal that resulted in more leftovers than a Thanksgiving dinner.
 

 
I’m not saying that God cannot perform a miracle without our help but I do think He looks to us to partner with Him. To take some action to prove that we are committed to the end goal. To use the abilities He’s blessed us with.
 
For a few weeks I’ve been asking God for a miracle – for a bit of magic to occur in my life. Spoiler alert. It hasn’t happened. I don’t believe it hasn’t happened because God is unable to do so but rather because what I’m asking Him to do, I can do myself.
 
Now that I’ve realized this, I can get to work doing my part. Am I a little scared? Am I uncertain? Yep and Yep. But if I’m committed to the end goal, which I am, then I need to do my part. And just like the stories of the Bible, I know my outcome will be just as miraculous.
 
Are you asking God to do something that you can do yourself? Maybe you want Him to heal a relationship but you’re stuck in unforgiveness. Maybe you want Him to get you a better job but you’re ungrateful for the one you have. Or maybe you’re asking Him to heal you in some way but you’ve not done what you’ve been told to do by your doctor.
 
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)
 
The apostle Matthew states this so plainly. If we do our assigned tasks in the project plan – ask, seek, knock, then God can do His tasks – give, find, open. Now that’s a project team I want to be on!