Christmas Lights & You
An annual source of neighborhood entertainment, my exterior
decorating ritual is a laugh a minute.
Neighbors line up chairs or just peer through their living room windows to see me hang off the ladder, sometimes fall off the ladder, get tangled in chords, etc. Of course I typically pick the coldest day of the year. It’s often raining or icing with wind gusts of over 50 MPH preferred.
The coup de grace is when I flip the switch and, inevitably, one section of the hundreds of lights I’ve strung goes dark. Then it’s the disassembly process and reconfiguration nightmare trying to find out why those particular lights don’t work. Ultimately, I’ll often stuff that section in the gutter and restring the other lights to cover the hole.
Quite humorous…for them, that is! It’s like the outtakes from Hooville in the movie, The Grinch.
Decorating, electrical work, and general mechanics just aren't in my gift-mix. When things break at our house, my wife says, "Oh Honey, it's OK...I like it better this way. PLEASE don't fix it." I'm just not a handyman. It's just not my thing.
Now don't feel bad for me. I'm good at other things and I'm aware of some of those. I have found that the key to success is to focus on those and do them better and better over time versus focusing on the things I do poorly such that I become more and more discouraged.
YOUR GIFTS AND YOUR FOCUS
How about you?
Do you tend to focus on the natural talents and the spiritual gifts God has given you OR, do you focus on the talents and gifts others have that you WISH you had? Do you spend hours trying to develop something that isn't even there, or do you work to improve in areas where you already have a God-given ability?
Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 and I Peter 4 give lists of gifts God provides to his children for the benefit of the Church. The Corinthian letters make it clear that God wants us to avoid wasting time on what I call, "gift envy" and instead, do what He has designed us to do. Shaming ourselves for not being good at something God didn't plan for us is foolishness. Developing our use of what God HAS provided makes sense and produces blessings.
So...untangle the light strings, step off the ladder, and move inside. Find what God has designed you to do--and go for it. Do it and develop it with all your might! You'll be happier and God will be honored by it!
Blessings,
Pastor Joel
