Monday Morning Devotion-June 11, 2018

The Collaboration

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in time of trouble.   Psalm 46:1

            Did you ever think of your relationship with God as a collaboration?  That is what it is really. The way to get the most and the best out of our daily lives is to collaborate with God.

            Sure, God is all-powerful (Omnipotent).  He is much smarter than us (Omniscient).  He is a part of what is happening in every aspect of our lives (Omnipresent).

            God could do it all by himself, but that is not the plan.  His plan is to shape us into being the best that we can be.  He has given us a free will and also the brainpower to know that we can't do it all by ourselves.

            He wants us to do what we can within our own strength and intelligence and collaborate with Him for the rest.  He wants us to work together with Him. To that end He often puts human teammates in our presence to help us hold up our end of the bargain and make it an even stronger collaboration.

            When we collaborate with another or with others the team we present to God for his collaboration can become even stronger.

            Pastor Billy Lowe (Planting Vertical Church, Alpharetta, GA) says: "The Christian life should be one of selfless service already.  When we model what it looks like to lay down our egos and work together we display something beautiful to our individualistic culture and it actually makes all of us far more effective."

            Lowe lists six things we can do to form a stronger collaboration with others thereby strengthening our collaboration with God:

            1) Celebrate each other's wins:  When we celebrate one another's wins we not only see everyone achieve more but we also begin to create a culture where people work together and accomplish five times as much.

            Winning teams in sports represent a collaboration of effort.  They call it teamwork and without it they don't win.  This week I witnessed a great example of that.  The Florida State Softball team won a National Championship through collaboration.  Time after time (6 in all) those girls battled back from the brink of elimination and each time a player would find the inner strength to add a winning effort to this exceptional collaboration of talent.  Then they would celebrate the wins together.

            2) Learn to take feedback:  Feedback from others can help strengthen the collaboration.  But, since nobody is perfect feedback can, at times, be painful. That happens, but it also makes you better when offered in the right way and with a desire to help strengthen the collaboration.

            3) Teamwork creates efficiency:  Through learning to trust each other a team becomes stronger and the collaboration is more effective and more meaningful. Working like a smooth running engine then the whole operation will become more efficient.

            4) Be quick to give credit where credit is due: Recognizing others for their contribution to the team effort is important.  Honoring another person fuels more collaboration.  Not recognizing the good work of others is hurtful and makes them feel like their contribution was not respected.

            5) Collaboration shows confidence in who you are:  When you are confident in who God made you to be you won't feel threatened by everyone else doing the same job and you will give freely to others. And like the girls on that Championship team you will all celebrate the victory together.

            6) Working together creates ten times the return:  The idea behind synergy is that when two or more work together they create a total that is greater than the sum of the two.

            These six principles when applied to everyday life enable you to get more done and also to weather the storms you encounter along the way.  Even if the collaboration is just between you and God, great things can still be accomplished.  Don't be surprised if the Lord prompts

You to invite another or others into the collaboration.

            Sometimes people may be invited into the collaboration for reasons you may find hard to comprehend.  Be wary of these collaboration-killing phrases" (leadlikejesus.com)

            1) "That's never worked before"-defeats the purpose.

            2) "That will never work."-sets negative tone.

            3) "I've got this fantastic idea I want to run by you"-prejudices idea in their favor.

            4) "Got five minutes to brainstorm?"-rushes a view or course of action through.

            5) "That's not your concern."-diminishes one's place on the team.

            6) "We don't have the (people, process, time, expertise, etc) for that-lacking    confidence in the team's ability

            7) "But what if (a calamity) happens"-doomsday approach.

            Obviously, those kinds of statements reveal an unwillingness to collaborate on whatever the project is.  Beware of these when they crop up.  They could be time-wasters if you have to spend a lot of time working through them.

            In your collaboration with the Heavenly Father, Sarah Young ("Always Jesus") suggests that instead of trying to force things to a premature conclusion, relax and ask Him to show you the way you should go in His timing.

            Often when you do this you will feel yourself calming down.  Your perspective on the matter begins to gain clarity.  He reveals things you didn't see before, or He will help you think through the situation more thoroughly and understand your role completely.

            The main thing that this will remind you of is that you are not in this alone.

It is a collaboration.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your willingness to collaborate with us in life's sticky situations and to help us get unstuck and to move forward.  Amen!