The pouring of the concrete pillars is a team effort. Our daughter Julie and her family are building a larger house at Refuge Ranch in Mexico to accommodate their large family. There’s going to be a slew of pillars to form the support for the house. The other day my wife and I helped the family and a couple of the staff from the ranch pour the first six of them.
It was a low tech process. Our son-in-law poured the cement, stone, sand and water into the mixer with the help of several of our grandchildren filling pails with the stone and sand. Another couple of the grandchildren pushed wheelbarrows with the concrete to the pillar being poured. Several more of the children formed a brigade, hoisting pails of the concrete up to Cirino, the hired man and mason on the project, who poured it into the pillar’s form. Yes, and grandpa and grandma helped too!
It took a little time, but before too long we were working well as a team, each doing his or her part. Working together we got six pillars poured that day!
Teamwork is key to making life work well. Sometimes we don’t realize we’re on a team when we really are. A husband and wife are a team, and so are two friends. Anytime we do anything with anyone we’re making it a team effort. Very little in life gets done without teamwork. There are no “self-made” people. We all need the contribution of other people in our lives, and other people can benefit from our input into their lives.
What’s required to be a good team player? I’m sure we could list a lot of criteria, but let me just share a couple.
Responsibility: Everyone needs to see that they have something they can contribute and then make the effort to do so. Sometimes we think we don’t have much or anything to offer. We need to think again! God’s put us in the place we find ourselves in life, and He has a plan for us to make a difference in the lives of others; we just need to carry it out.
Humility: We need the help of others. No one can do it all. Sometimes we may even have to ask for help. If we can get beyond our own pride of trying to do it all ourselves, we can experience the delight of having others come alongside us, and together we can make it happen!
I began this essay with a concrete example (yes, I love puns!). You and I can, each day, be a team player. We’ll all be the better for it!
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor…” (Ecclesiastes 4:9)
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