My wife has a much better sense of smell than I do. When we go to the market she literally sniffs her way through the fruits and vegetables. Her nose scans the melons and boxes of tangerines. She makes sure we get good produce. Yet, at home I can open the pantry and pick up the faintest sweet scent of an onion going bad and she does not detect it. I shouldn’t be puzzled regarding this because I know that each person has unique qualities. The world would be a very uninteresting place if each of us had the same talents and gifts. Can you imagine how dull conversations would be?
A football team would be a pretty sorry organization if everyone was a quarterback. It needs those guys who look like refrigerators just as much as it needs runners who can make a hundred yards seem like a stroll in the park. Churches need an endless array of gifts from hospitality to scholars, pastors and evangelists. Churches even need administrators because roofs will leak and furnaces will get old. That is where we come in. Each of us has something to contribute. No one is giftless. I have a friend who cannot see. You should read some of the wonderful poetry that flows from her pen. She is really good.
One thing that breaks our hearts is when we see gifted youth wasting for whatever reason. Sometimes it is because they have yet to recognize their value. That’s where older people need to step in. Remember Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Too often we only apply this verse to moral issues. It has a much vaster application.
Written by Roger Bothwell on March 29, 2012
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org