Hi, We will be moving next week and part of the move is being off line. So enjoy this weeks post and I will post a new blog on June 13. Remember to celebrate each day, Mary

SPOONS

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-11

Please look this scripture up and read the whole text. Quoted are verses 1, 4, 5, 7 and 11

1. Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. 4. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 7. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 11. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

SPOONS

Before you read this, I want you to go into your kitchen and get as many different spoons as you can find. Go ahead. I will wait.

Good you are back. Now lay those spoons out in front of you. Look at them. Really look. Are they all the same? Do they all have the same purpose? After all, they are all spoons.

I can see you shaking your head. Maybe wondering why in the world you bothered to get the spoons. You know they are spoons. You know they are different. Pick up a spoon from your best silverware. What do you use it for? Now pick up a slotted serving spoon. How do you use it? Did you also get a big cooking spoon? You know, the one you use to stir noodles with. Did you grab a measuring spoon? A wooden spoon? Did you pick up specialty spoons: Sugar? Soup? Grapefruit? Iced tea?

Lay the spoons all out again. Look at them. They are all spoons. But they each have a different use. You could not use that little teaspoon to stir a big pot of soup. The big cooking spoon would not fit in the neck of a spice jar to measure 1/4 teaspoon. And you could not use the slotted spoon to put gravy over the mashed potatoes. Those spoons, each different, are like Christians.

God has a special and unique purpose for each of His children. Some Christians are specialist. They know how to pray. Really good prayers. Or they can run the sound system, without one tiny squeal. Or they are powerful preachers or teachers. Some Christians can handle big projects like building churches. Organizing the retreats. Raising money. Some Christians can go into homes and help cook and clean, when someone is ill or needs extra help. Some Christians sit in the pew on Sunday morning. Some Christians celebrate Sunday morning by sitting in the woods. Some are on committees. Some go to Bible Study and some read quietly at home. Some Christians have time to volunteer and some Christians are busy guiding their families on God's path.

Here's the thing -- Each spoon has a use. How would you work in the kitchen if all the spoons were the same? Each Christian has a use. How would God's work be done if all Christians were exactly alike?

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

Do you ever feel like you are less important than someone else because they seem to do "big" things? Do you ever feel uncomfortable when the Christian work you do is used as an example to others? As you put the spoons away, do you realize that God has a special use for you?

Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.

LET US PRAY

Father God, Thank you for trusting us to do your work on earth. Give us the wisdom to accept the talents and gifts you have given and use them as YOU want them to be used. Help us to put aside our human condition of comparing ourselves to others and follow your path for our lives. … Amen