EMBRACE YOUR GIFTS

Music, painting and live theater are all means through which I “creatively express” what I think, and feel, and see, and experience. Spend very much time with me, and you will discover that I am an energetic soul with a lot of frenetic ideas. People often describe me as “creative.” And I love it. However, I used to bristle at that description because there was another passion that I wanted to define me – science.

Biology and chemistry were my first majors in college, and I dreamed of making amazing discoveries in genetics. There is a real part of me that loves process and order – examining how things work – taking things apart in an effort to “recreate” or even to improve upon the known, or who longs to discover the unknown. To most of my friends I was an anomaly. My high school and college peers thought that my involvement in the school choir and the theater productions distracted me from the drive to be a scientist. My “theater” friends thought I was a geek or worse a “wanna-be” artist.

I can laugh about it now, and although I still think about going back to school and pursuing a Ph.D. in science, I ended up taking the more artistic path through college and then eventually in seminary and fulltime vocational church work. It took me years to recognize and appreciate that the skills, interests, and passions that define me are not just a jumble of unrelated abilities that happened to collect together in my part of this “human race.”

I am not an accident who just happens to function, and neither are you. Each of us has been given a special spiritual place in the “body” of Christ, a place in the church, and we are all part of a created order. We have a purpose, and my part in God’s plan helps others be able to live out their part. What a privilege to know that we are part of the whole creation and what we bring to the “whole” is important and necessary.

What defines you? How have you labeled yourself, or how do you find others label you? In this time of unrest, war, poverty, and diverse faith, we are called to build up unity in the body of Christ. Our call is to peace through the power of the Spirit and through the marvelous works of God. Be authentic, embrace your gifts, and seek ways to participate in the “works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13).

As you look toward the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ, as you journey through this Lenten season, I encourage you to review and renew your relationship with God and share the hope of Christ with those around you. How – you might ask? Embrace all that you are and rejoice in it!

— Penny Rasnake

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist