Do you polish a turd?

Friday night our church hosted an amazing volunteer appreciation night. The theme was SURVIVOR and during the night teams had solve a puzzle that was velcrod to a wall. The puzzle pieces were designed, taped, spray painted & then jig-sawed cut out. They were not supposed to look immaculate (remember SURVIVOR theme). In the midst of the creating we thought, "These kinda look a little tacky", so we asked a really talented person to help rough up the puzzle pieces more artistically so they looked "a little better".

The phrase we used when we asked for help was "we know you're not supposed to polish a turd, but could you?"

That sparked a thought for me...

How often do we try to polish turds? Seriously, in our ministries how often is there an aspect that is in place that shouldn't be but we try to "polish" it so it looks a little better? Be it pressure from parents, leadership or even your own stubbornness. Right now how many aspects of the ministry you lead should be stopped or cut out? What could you stop putting energies into & redirect to another place of ministry? What aspect of the ministry really needs to be flushed down a toilet cause it has run its course or its there because you feel it'll "make people happy" but it really isn't being effective for the kingdom or the overall ministry direction?

I am pretty sure that if we quit trying to polish turds in our ministries and stay focussed on the essentials the ministries we lead would be WAY more effective!

But this isn't just a ministry related question. In my personal life, where am I trying to polish turds? Where do I think things are ok, but they really aren't. Am i giving myself enough personal time to read, grow & be challenged. Do I care about my health & my mental stability in all circumstances?

What about my marriage & as a parent? Where do I need to just quit doing mediocrity to really focus intentional energy so my spouse & kids are healthy & get the healthiest part of me?

I haven't quite started a "turd" list but already know where some tweaking & flushing needs to happen in our ministry as well a couple areas of personal life.