thirty thankful days-day 10--my bosstor

Every day in November I am posting something I'm thankful for, and I would love to have you join me!  Link to your thankful post below, or write about it in the comments.  Let's be thankful together!


As I've mentioned before, I have the privilege of working as the Children's Ministry Director at our church.   It's a job I love very much.  Just about two years ago we got a new senior pastor--who is also my boss.  (Get it? boss/pastor=bosstor?  Kay, that's lame--I made that word up too-late last night when I started this post...and am leaving it cause I like to laugh at myself.)

How do I begin to describe Don?  Passionate.  A visionary.  Straightforward.  A Teacher.  Developmental.  A Leader.  Missional.  A strong communicator.  He is unlike anyone I've ever known before.  Our church has been blessed by his leadership in many ways.

But I'm not thankful on behalf of my church today, I'm thankful for Don's impact on my life in particular.  I have never had a boss speak into my life the way he does, and I've had some really developmental bosses.  He has great insight into people and is able to mentor people like I've never been mentored before.  He does not tread lightly, and is willing to call out things others might not.

Don and I up front at church after our VBX  (hence the green T-shirt)

Last night we spent a few hours talking about me...about what he sees I'm good at. And about what I'm not good at.  He asked me to get over not being good at certain things (working on it...), and to stop trying to do them.  He doesn't want me spending my energy in those ways.  He is able to tell me what type of leader I am, and how that positively impacts our team and our church.  I can't say I completely get everything he said to me last night...It always takes me a while to wrap my mind around it, but I have a feeling he's pretty dead-on.  When I came home, my hubby and I processed, and he seems to agree with the things Don and I talked about.

I am growing and changing under Don's guidance, not only from his teaching, but particularly under his mentorship.    He names my gifts and strengths very specifically, which is extremely affirming.  And he also names the things holding me back, which are sometimes hard to hear--but which I believe is an even bigger investment in me.  God is using Don to help me look at myself in ways I probably wouldn't have. And for these reasons, I'm thankful for Don, my boss and my pastor (my bosster? heh heh) today.

Who would have thought I could still have so much to learn about myself at age halfway-to-ninety??  I'm thankful I'm not done yet...

What are you thankful for?  Link up or comment!  Let's fill up blogland with thankfulness!

A few simple instructions for the link up:

-please link to your specific thankful post--not just your blog

-please link back to theGoodlife in your post so others can join the fun!
-feel free to grab the 30 thankful days graphic--I haven't figured out how to make it a button yet.  I'm such a techy, huh?