I’m grateful for collaboration!

During Sunday’s annual thanksgiving community brunch, we re-visited our core practices, one of which is “collaborating”. While this has always been a core value of The Well’s, it has been a tough one to live out.

Collaboration sounds fun until you actually put it into practice!

Creating something together is messy, unpredictable and invites us to listen patiently instead of rushing in with our own agendas. It also forces us to give up control of the outcome. Through the years, I have not only uncovered my own blind spots when it comes to collaboration (have I mentioned I love control?!), but I’ve also discovered just how tricky it can be to find co-collaborators. I’ve entered some relationships expecting we’d create together only to find out they were only really wanted volunteers to carry out their already-established plans. That’s fine - but that’s not collaboration.

Maybe that’s what filled me with gratitude this Tuesday as I looked around & thought:

this is what collaboration looks like!

Andrew Robinson Elementary volunteers, staff & families, along with members of the school advisory council and friends in our Well community came together to create Thanksgiving baskets so families can be well-fed during this holiday. This was a new initiative that came through conversation & relationships. Teachers helped identify families & we ended up collecting so much food that we have enough to do the same for Christmas!

By each bringing something to the table, we created something necessary … together.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the gift of collaboration, for what it continues to teach me & for how much richer life is when it’s lived together.

[By the way, BIG thanks to all who donated turkeys, “fixings” & money to make it happen TOGETHER!]

Hope you are well-fed & well-loved this Thanksgiving -

Susan