Welcoming the new person

By Jeff Becraft

 

My wife’s birthday is around the time of Thanksgiving. This was an especially significant Thanksgiving this past year because we got to see all four grandkids. It was easily one of the highlights of 2024 for me. Two of the grandkids even came in all the way from Texas. One of those is named Levi.

The day before Thanksgiving, Levi and I went grocery shopping. On the way into the grocery store, I see a picture of something that catches my eye in another store – it is a bird feeder with a seed log in the shape of a snowman.

My wife loves snowmen. And for years, she has had bird feeders in our backyard. This was a great combo right here!

I tell Levi, “We are going to get that for Grams as part of her birthday present!”

I was pretty excited about it.  Levi and I come out of the grocery store (which was a wild trip all by itself) and head over to the bird store. But… the bird store has closed early because of Thanksgiving. Bummer.

I was really disappointed… but I told Levi, “Don’t say anything to anyone, but we’re coming back and getting that for Grams.” I was told later that Levi went in the house and spilled the beans to everyone that he and I were getting Grams a snowman bird feeder. Just part of the adventure and joy of having grandkids.

The next time I was in the area of the store, it was closed again. Then one time when I was at the grocery store, the store was open and I went in and told them the whole story… and got the snowman bird feeder. It was a lot more than I was expecting to pay but this was for my wife, it was a snowman, and it was a bird feeder, so it was a winning combination.

Brenda’s love language is not gifts but she was genuinely excited about the snowman. She went right out and hung him up and as she was heading out, she commented, “Wow, there are a lot of really good seeds on this thing.”

For the first several days, the birds hardly paid any attention to Mr. Snowman. He was the new guy on the block. He didn’t look at all like the bird feeder that had been hanging there. He just sat there… with a black-seed smile on his face.

And then… one day… it was game on. I guess one of the birds introduced himself to Mr. Snowman and then word got out that this was a good thing going here. Mr. Snowman became extremely popular. So much so, that I almost went out there and put a lampshade on his head because he was the center of the party.

Eventually, the birds did Mr. Snowman in. I went back to the bird store and was going to get a seed log to put on the bird feeder. I offhandedly asked, “So you all are all out of the snowmen?” The lady responded, “Oh no, we still have some and they are 50% off. They’re right over here.” To which I responded, “That’s in the budget,” and got two of them.

So we put up son of Snowman. Brenda even commented, “Let’s see how long it takes the birds to take to him.”

Once again, the birds were hesitant at first. I wonder what was going on in their bird heads: “Who is this guy? He looks just like the other guy who was here. But we ate him. Where did this guy come from?”

But after a few days, son of Snowman was back at the center of attention… even without a lampshade on his head.

It is interesting how the birds held back when Mr. Snowman came into the picture. He was the new guy on the block. He didn’t look like what had been out there before.

How often do we do that when someone new comes on the scene? Whether it is a visitor or a new person in our company, our organization, someone we bump into or whatever.

Leaders proactively set the atmosphere. Why wait? Let’s go out of our way to make that new person feel important and welcome and call them by their name.

The birds were missing out on a good thing.

 

Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope and the Director Emeritus for Youth Corps and has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. Our Place of Hope is a paradigm shift for people living with mental illness that encourages them to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. You can connect with Jeff at  [email protected].