{"id":6032,"date":"2015-04-08T06:37:58","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T06:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=6032"},"modified":"2015-04-01T09:57:44","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T09:57:44","slug":"those-who-show-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/those-who-show-up\/","title":{"rendered":"THOSE WHO SHOW UP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"those-who-show-up-banner\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No-one seems to be certain who first coined the famous phrase, \u201cDecisions are made by those who show up\u201d. Its potential authors include a range of people from former US Presidents to movie-maker Woody Allen, and it was popularised by its use in the American TV show \u201cThe West Wing\u201d.<\/p>\n

But whoever first uttered the phrase, it is hard to argue with. Throughout time, history has been made by those who show up. Decisions ARE made by those who show up. Not necessarily by the smartest, not necessarily by the most qualified, not necessarily by those of the best character, not necessarily by those who may have gleaned some divine wisdom, but by those who like Wendell Borton simply show up. It is sobering, but perhaps also empowering. You don\u2019t need outrageous gifting to show up. You just need a body.<\/p>\n

The same is true throughout the stories of scripture. Yes, at times God moves in miraculous invisible ways, but much more frequently he moves through one or more of his unremarkable people who seem to be in the right ordinary place at the right time. The CVs of Gideon, Moses, or Rahab were not exactly screaming out for their respective jobs. They just showed up in obedience.<\/p>\n

Where do people \u2018show up\u2019? I hear you cry. They show up in a variety of places which may not always be obvious. They show up at local residents\u2019 meetings. They show up at parents\u2019 associations. They show up at safer neighbourhood groups. They show up at town council meetings. They show up at political party branch meetings. You may well be one of them.<\/p>\n

You see the places that these people show up are not the fun places. These places generally involve chairpersons, secretaries, treasurers and minutes. These places are generally dusty old halls. These places don\u2019t have Welcome teams with Fairtrade coffee, doughnuts and biscuits, and even if they manage a biccie, it\u2019ll probably just be a Rich Tea.<\/p>\n

But these people run the world (in the macro and the micro). There are some seriously hard yards to do. There is a lot of tiresome, repetitive work that is non-negotiable. And to get to elevated positions these people have been often been showing up at some pretty dull meetings for a long time. But we rarely think about that because we usually only know about them once they\u2019ve got to \u2018the top\u2019.<\/p>\n

When we reflect on history we do remember those who showed up, but our focus tends to be on the endpoints rather than the starting points. We forget that in between forming an opinion and transformation occurring a lot of hard work happened. The civil rights movement didn’t just believe racism was wrong; They showed up. The Suffragettes didn’t just believe women should have the right to vote; They showed up. But it cost them. We don\u2019t often read about all the meetings that paved the way for those mass movements, and there were many of them (but they don\u2019t make great movies.)<\/p>\n

For example here is a summary of the minutes of the very first meeting of a campaign group (even the word \u2018minutes\u2019 has you dropping off doesn’t it?)<\/p>\n