Gifts

Matthew 7:9-11 - Or which man among you if your child asked for bread, give him a stone? Or if he asked for a fish, would give him a snake? And if you, who are evil, know to give good gifts to your children, how much more does your father, the one who is in heaven, know to give good things to you?

Two things pop out: trust and gifts.

Trust that God knows what we need and gives them. Trust that God can lead us. God will sustain our physical body but also our spirit, if we let her. This kind of radical trust is hard. But the serenity that comes from focusing on what we can do - instead of what we lack - is worth the effort to continually give our worries to God. Answers come if we listen for them.

The piece that intrigues me this morning - especially in light of events at RPPC - is gifts, good things. Not just food or water or shelter. But all gifts. What are my gifts? How am I willing to use them? In seminary and CPE I became much more willing to look at my gifts and see where God may be leading. Today, I need to continue that process. Everyday actually!

So, today, I have the gifts of compassion, administration, organization, writing, joy, love, self-care, empathy, being present with others, knowing, preaching, liturgy, prophecy - in the sense of speaking for God, curiosity, intuition. I also have the "gift" of procrastination and lack of self-esteem. These make it more difficult for me to exercise my gifts. Of course, so does having lupus. In fact, that is a much bigger obstacle than I had thought it would be. Yet, each day I am working to see where I need to be today. What I need to do today - not just for me but for my marriage and my husband.

My prayer is: God, help me to trust that you will lead me to use my gifts for your glory and to increase the love, joy, peace, understanding and empathy in the world.
Amen