This past week I started a new job. In many ways I feel very blessed to be given such an opportunity. I haven’t started with too many different companies in my career, but I will say that I believe the warm welcome I received from my new staff, my colleagues and many of the other employees has been unprecedented. My first day, I walked in to flowers, a banner, balloons and a constant sea of people stopping by to sincerely welcome me to the organization. That sentiment lasted throughout my entire first week. Each day I found myself driving home with a smile on my face. It was prompted by remembering all the nice people I had met that day, but also stemmed from a very peaceful and touching reminder, that this group had chosen me to be in this important role. (It still makes me smile).
This organization has a long standing tradition of “initiating” its new leadership team members. So at my first leadership team meeting last week I was told I needed to tell them a little bit about myself, which was easy. However, the second requirement was that I stand up in the middle of the room and sing a song! This request came without any warning. So, as I sheepishly looked around the room of anticipation, and very slowly got up from my chair, a million different thoughts went through my head. “Are they kidding? They can’t be serious! Is this some kind of test? I wonder if they’d believe I have laryngitis? Here goes my ultra-professional image…”, etc. It was at that last thought that a childhood song popped into my head. It is actually a short chorus, and I don’t think my sister and I were ever taught any more of the song. It was very second nature to sing this song spontaneously… But here? In front of all these new people?
After taking a big, deep breath, I told my new colleagues that my mom had worked in the carnival. In fact, the “carnies” as they are known, even had their own language, which several of my family members still speak today. I saw some smiles and a few puzzled looks, so I went on to share that the Carnie language came in handy at times, such as when you went to the state or country fair and found the workers making comments to or about people as they walked by. Responding to them in Carnie-talk still is a very fun thing to do.
I went on to share with my new leadership team, that although I’m not sure, I think the song that comes to mind for me to sing has some connection to the Carnival world. And with that… I went into what I call “performance mode” and proceeded to sing the following chorus in my most uninhibited manner…
*Oh honey let’s go down, to honky tonky town,
It’s underneath the ground, where all the fun is found,
They’ll be dancing synchopaters and funny little waiters,
Down…. In honky tonky town.
I think I closed my eyes for a spot second out of fear for what type of response I was going to get. But very quickly, the room roared with applause and cheers as I saw quite a few of my new colleagues with a bit of shock and amazed looking faces. One ladies mouth was wide open for several minutes afterward (from pure shock, I’m sure).
I’m not sure what type of responses this team is used to getting after such a request is made, but I imagine they lean more toward ways of trying to get out of doing anything of that nature. They did share with me that one person in the room, had been initiated several years ago and broke into a rendition of Camelot! I haven’t talked to that manager much as yet, but I have a feeling he and I will have a lot to talk about!
As I was driving home that evening, I was thinking about the “Initiation Rite”. Later that day, one of the long tenured leaders told me the tradition was created with the intent of making the new person embarrassed and then (no matter what the new leader did or didn’t do) the new team would give them praise. The intent being to show the new leader their new colleagues would be supportive and caring.
I’m admittedly still working to draw a direct correlation to that explanation, however, I did use that spontaneous occurrence to make a very quick decision to “just be me” and let my guard down (all the way down)!
The event of the day led me to thinking about other “initiation rites”. We’ve all heard of others, and I imagine many of you have experienced one or two in your lifetime. I also started thinking about what initiation we are asked to experience as Christians. What has God asked us to do?
Recognizing there are unique requirements in various religions, the simple beauty of our faith lies in God’s request for each of us to – Believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, Repent of our Sins and be Baptized. As I continued to reflect on this, I thought about my decision earlier that day, to be myself and not really consider how my colleagues may respond. We have that same opportunity as we go through the process of becoming a Christian. Jesus doesn’t say we need to do these “10 things” first, or that we need to become different than we are. He tells us to come, just as we are, with all our shortcomings, failures and doubt. His love and grace are ours, just for the asking. How simply divine and what a magnificent gift we have been given!
There’s a section in one of my all time favorite books, Dare to Be Yourself, titled, Dare to Look Silly. No doubt that is the risk I took last week at my new job. But while reading that portion of the book again, I was enlightened as to what my new colleagues were apparently trying to accomplish. A line in the book says, “Blowing your image occasionally is a wonderful way to step out of the cage of self-protection and join with other people in the safety of the heart. I love that phrase… join with other people in the safety of the heart.
My prayer for you this week is that you feel comfortable doing just that. Dare to be yourself, in all the glory that God made you and step out – you just never know when you’ll break out in song!
The song I’m sharing with you this week is very popular and one I believe most of you love as much as I do. It is “From the Inside Out” performed by Hillsong. The lyrics are a beautiful reminder of the ways in which God loves us, even when He knows us better than anyone else. Turn this up and SING!
*After a bit of research, I’ve learned that the song I sang is titled, “Down in Honky Tonk Town”. The music was written in 1916 by Chris Smith and the lyrics by Chalres McCarron. The lyrics I found are somewhat different and there are additional lyrics as well. It was also fun to learn that this song has been sung by a Barbershop Quarter in California including some theatrics (which would be fun to see).