West Wing

I'm watching the West Wing as I wait for laundry to finish so that I can go to work (yes, I know that I should think ahead more). And I'm thinking about how they work and why they work and what it all means...and then about how I work and where I work and what it all means. I realize that this is simply a TV show and not reality. I realize that, no matter where one is, there are great triumphs and disasters. But I can't help thinking about how this White House team operates.

In the show, the senior staff have plenty of arguments; they fight over nearly everything and people don't always get their way. But, they all have a basic understanding that they are working for the same purpose and vision. They might have different ways of getting there, and they might have differing areas of passion within this, but they all share the same vision. So, they duke it out and work towards it as best they can.

Can I say that about my work? Yes and no. I believe that the people I work with are faithful people who truly desire for the church to be honest and faithful servants in the world. I enjoy the people I work with and often find myself having to work outside the building in order to curb the amount of conversations I end up having. But I have yet to find what the common vision is. I have yet to understand what it is that we are working towards and why. I know what I, personally, want to see and work towards, but I have no idea what the church is aiming for. And unfortunately, my suspicions as to what it could be, are less than what I had hoped. And with no clear vision as to what we're working for, it sometimes makes it difficult to enter into conversations with people because you don't know what the common ground is and then someone ends up losing out completely.

Fascinating how teams work.