Fulfilling the gift the God has given to us - Romans 12:1-8 with a story, an observation and a prayer

SCRIPTURE: Romans 12:1-8 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

STORY – from unknown source:
The animals of the forest all went to school in order to be better animals. When it came to physical education they each had to do every event – climbing, running, swimming, flying. The Duck did poorly with the climbing and running, but excelled when it came to swimming and flying. The Eagle flunked out in all areas except flying and in that not one animal came close. The Rabbit could run and do a little swimming, but had a horrible time climbing and could not fly at all. The Squirrel ran, climbed and swam well and could leap from one tree to another but the instructor couldn’t call it flying. The point: be who you are – work to your strengths.

AN OBSERVATION:
Are we living into our expectations or someone else’s? Some years ago I overheard a conversation between several USF pre-med students. They were discussing what kind of medicine they were going to go into and why they had decided on the medical field. The discussion that centered around the kind of medicine to choose boiled down to how much money they could make in the various fields. When their dialogue turned to the why, some was money, others was prestige and one sorrowful soul confessed that they only reason he decided to pick medicine was to make his father happy. What would he rather be doing? Playing the piano … “and I’m good at it, but dad thought that I couldn’t make a living playing the piano … so medicine became my future.”

Discovering one’s inner purpose … what we are good at … God’s design for our life … is difficult at best, but when others insert their wishes and desires for our life, it becomes downright hard. When profit becomes the motive instead of service and living up to our potential it is simply becomes a sad state of affairs.

Life unfolds in peculiar ways for most of us. Stories of gifted individuals having to leave school because of a tragic death in the family and pick up the financial responsibilities for the family are too many. Stories of men and women who get caught up in the heady mind games of others are tragic as well.

But the bottom line is this – God has given each of us some very special gifts and graces for living. Seeking happiness? Desire fulfillment? Hungry for a life completing purpose? Then discover those gifts and graces and live into the potential that is within.

PRAYER:
Help us all to discover or rediscover the true love of our soul and then guide us down the path to fulfilling the design that you had made for our life … all for the sake of your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name. Amen.