The devotional today is one of the best known scriptures about the church or people of God. Each person has their own gift of the Spirit. It is through the combining of those gifts with each other in a church or group of believers that we feel the synergy that God intended for us! I have two stories about this.
First, a funny one. We talked about this scripture in college with some of my preacher friends (or wannabees at that time!). You can only imagine how the conversation may have digressed when we started discussing what parts of the "body" that each of us were. It is not very encouraging when the people around you think of you as the "ass" of the body of the church! Yikes! hehehe Oh well!
The other story is an important lesson that I learned in the ministry. There were some folks in my churches that couldn't do much at all. You wouldn't think they were an important cog in the machinery that made the church work or that they contributed very much. It was after one of them passed away that I found out that person donated the money so the church could afford a minister of music. The person had been paying my salary! We never know the role that each of us play.
Lord, I want to respect the role of each person in your church. We can't all be preachers or soloists!
Sunday Friend
My Sunday Friend this week is my youngest sister. My nickname for her is Sissy (not her real name). I tease Sissy about being a delicate flower. hehehe She has never been the strongest person I know in the way I think of a strong person, but she has her own strength that I hadn't realized until the last 10 years (see the "I want to respect the role of each person in your church" prayer above!).
She is a talented musician. She is a dedicated Christian. She talks about her relationship with God with her friends and family. She reared three children as a stay at home mother. She made things work when the situations were not very easy.
We are now going into a phase of life where we need to help our mother more and more. She stepped up to drive from Kentucky to Wooster, Ohio to stay with our mother after Mom fell and broke her arm the other day.
I am very proud to call Sissy my sister. I am more proud to call her my friend.
Other Stuff
God used the devotion this morning to also reinforce something to me. We all can have different roles in the lives of our friends. We can't be a lover or partner or spouse to each one of our friends. It is not right. It is not appropriate. There are some friendships where I am the older brother or mentor. There are some relationships where I am the mentee. Most of my relationships involve me showing my love and concern in ways that only I can. It is disarming for some folks that I can get through to them when few folks have done so in their lives. I care about people. They usually care about me.
A friend asked me the other day "Why do you remember so much stuff about me and other people?" We were discussing something when I remembered some seemingly unimportant fact or phrase. I explained that is one of my love languages -- I care about my friends enough to remember stuff about them. To remind them of the things I remember about them.
I have to admit that I even scare myself sometimes with my memory. My favorite server has a fiancee that works at the same restaurant. I had only met her once briefly about 8 months ago. When I saw her again at the restaurant last week I said "did you change your hair and your glasses recently?" She looked at me flabbergasted. "Why, yes, my hair used to be longer and I did get new glasses". I gave a timid apology as I explained that I had a scary memory at times... ;-p I don't remember everything about everyone. I do remember a lot.
I had a great day yesterday. I am looking forward to church, reading, cooking and going to my dinner group today. I am off work tomorrow. I hope to spend tonight and tomorrow with a special man. I am fortunate to have him in my life. Could he be the one? I don't know for sure. I want to find out.
Hang in there, my friends! I will be upbeat and steady. That is what I do....
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