November Reflection
- Meg Harmon
- Dec 1, 2020
- 3 min read
Can you believe its December!? We certainly can’t! As we’ve passed 50% of our fundraising and start to look toward the new year, we realize our move is coming soon! Anywhere from 3-5 months if all goes as planned! Wow! Life can sure change quickly.
Highlights:
- We finished the month at 57% funded, slightly below our goal but still on track.
- We met an awesome couple that just moved to Sammamish from England--their kids attended an international school and participated in Young Life, just like we will do!
- Meg has been exploring discernment and the enneagram with her Senior Campaigner girls--putting that master's degree to use!
- "German lessons" with a friend (a German-language-enthusiast a few steps ahead of us), it's been good practice!
- We finished another puzzle and cut down our Christmas tree in the mountains!
MEG'S REFLECTION
What I’ve learned: This past month brought up some challenging and often conflicting emotions—hitting 50% was an exciting milestone that shifted quite drastically from a glass-half-full to half-empty perspective. Through the help of my spiritual director, I was able to identify the tension that comes with growth (like an expanding balloon). I guess that’s why they call them “growing pains.” While my temptation is to crawl under a table in response to discomfort, the reality is I can hold all of those emotions with tender care while still moving forward.
Where I saw God: At the beginning of the month, I was feeling dry and restless in my usual morning times of quiet. I just couldn’t sit still. In addition, the beautiful end of fall left my heart with a strong desire to be outside. So, I decided to combine the two. I’ve started each morning with a walk, no matter the weather. These centering walks have been a lifeline and increased my sense of connection with God and myself.
What I hope for next month: I genuinely hope to be blown away. It’s difficult holding expectations that are not met with the vitality of the anticipation, but I hope this month is full of momentum building energy. And if it’s not, I hope to be satisfied all the same. We’ll get there.
CHASE'S REFLECTION
What I’ve learned: This month we started at 41%. Not really knowing what our pace will be, our goal at the end of this month was 65%. Only a 24% increase no big deal! It turns out that the middle portion of fundraising is generally considered as one of the toughest stretches of fundraising, who knew! I’m grateful that even though we didn’t get to 65%, we still are averaging around 14% increase over the last three months. This means that even though we didn’t hit our goal (which we arbitrarily choose in the beginning of August to guide us) our pace has stayed steady, despite a tough stretch; this is encouraging!
Where I saw God: Fundraising is a ministry unto itself. Getting to connect with people that I haven’t talked to in a while or connecting with people that I’ve never on my own connected with is a gift. To be given the opportunity to listen, relate, encourage, and sometimes pray with other is a sacred act. Fundraising gives an excuse to connect with others that I probably wouldn’t engage in otherwise. From old mentors, friends, extended families, it has been an honor to be able to look back – to reflect on my context to how I got here with thankfulness, but to also to ask others to be a part of something that looks toward the future with excitement. I see God’s emphasis on relationships throughout this process. Especially during a pandemic where we are not seeing many people, I highly recommend reaching out to someone you haven’t talked to recently; it’s worth the effort.
What I hope for next month: We are reaching out to our Issaquah community this month. We are currently around 55%, it would be great to be in the 70’s by the end month. Our original goal was 80% by the end of the year and that could still be in play. I hope more importantly that this month, with everything closed, that we can truly connect with our Issaquah folks and students.
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