A Week On The Job

My first week with the Northwest Neighborhood Federation is on the books and I am happy to announce I have no intention of quitting any time soon. A lot of you have asked for more details of my experience and I think it’s easiest to cheat and relay how Brighid has recently summed it up: “It’s like he has been dropped in the middle of a foreign country where he doesn’t know the language, doesn’t know anyone, and is there to build an aqueduct and has no idea where the water is.”

I have had nothing but names, numbers, politics, meetings and Spanish come my way for a solid week and I have lived to tell about it. The upshot is that I have two months to put this entire program on its feet. The downside is that I only have two months to put this entire program on its feet.

There are about 10 areas on which I must focus some piece of each day, not to mention being on the lookout for more. It seems that each time I spend a chunk of time working on one task of a larger item, that task becomes a whole new large item with sub-tasks of its own. It’s kind of like watching a single crack in a windshield spread across the width of the car and branch out with every passing second; then each new arm of the spreading crack forms new arms and on and on until what you are left with is a complex and overwhelming spider web which has the potential to become more and more complex at any given moment.

And I’m loving it. I met with my spiritual director today and we discussed many aspects of the job, one of which is the humility it takes to be a leader and being a steward or servant of the power entrusted by someone higher up on the food chain.

Do I have what it takes to do that? Any time I find myself mired in self-doubt, I just have to remember that there are those out there that think I do. And that, combined with making decisions in the face of fear will get me through to the next day. And then I do it all over again.