“If you want something done right, do it yourself.”
Although a tad overused and basically a cliché, there’s something very truthful about this advice. No one else can get it done exactly the way we want, so why leave it up to others when we are able to do it ourselves? We’re just going to be disappointed.
And if all we’re focused on is a “thing,” a task to be completed, then I think it would be a great motto for life. But is it ever just about the task?
No task is ever separated from relationships. As much as we would like to do everything ourselves, we simply can’t and, really, we shouldn’t want to. Doing something ourselves is efficient, yes. It gets a job done and we’re happy. But that’s all it does: It gets a job done. When we do everything ourselves, no one else learns that they can also do it themselves. No one else ever learns that they are capable and responsible and important. Nothing is ever accomplished except for that one job.
What if we had a different approach? What if, rather than “do it yourself,” we tried “do it together”? Sure, each task might be a little more laborious. It might have more conflict and not get done exactly how we want it to. But look what else might happen: Others will feel a part of something, share the load, and be able to pass on the skills to the next job. When we do things together, a mission can live beyond us.
For me, this is advice that we greatly need in our Church. Even though we know we should do things together in ministry, even though we’re told to love one another and that it’s about the person and not the task, sometimes we can fall into this model—even at Church. Sometimes we try to do everything ourselves, failing to train the next person, to include others, to take the time to make it about “us” rather than the task at hand.
This Lent, we are called to go on mission, together. We are called to truly be Church, to look beyond the task right in front of us and see what is really important: the people doing the task. He could have gotten a lot more done if it were about the task. He could have done it all himself and completed it just the way he wanted. Instead, Jesus sent his disciples out of on mission, and never alone.
There was something more at work in the mission than just the work. Jesus was building something beyond himself, and so must we. As much as we love a “do it yourself” attitude, what our Church truly needs—what we truly need—is a “do it together” attitude.
