Gifts. What a fabulous time to write about gifts with Christmas coming up. Tis the season, right?...there are gifts in the Kingdom, don’t cha know? The spiritual gifts. There are so many books and teaching on your spiritual gifts. What they are and how to discover them. Pauly, in 1 Corinthians even says eagerly desire gifts that were freely given to us by the Holy Spirit. When I pray for people for their spiritual gifts a lot of time, I see an actual gift inside of them. Like a wrapped present. Some of these gifts are wrapped up and some of the gifts are being unwrapped, etc. It’s kind of fun looking around and realizing that we all have such wonderful beautiful gifts that the Spirit has given to us. How great is that?!
When I got back from Africa and Thailand, I spent a lot of the first three weeks hiding out at my parents house. I was a overwhelmed at the thought of going places, seeing people and I was trying to process as much as I could. So I hid. My most favorite spot was on the hammock in the backyard. I would just lay there. I could have lived out there. I would wrap myself in this blanket and just stare out. Sometimes I would listen to music but there was already so much chatter in my head i really didn’t need anything but the song of nature to draw me in. Right above my hammock there was this hummingbird feeder. Every early morning when I would go out there, these hummingbirds would be flying around. First, let me say that during this time, i discovered that these little half fairies brought me so much joy. I can’t believe that they are considered birds. And they were so close to me that I could hear them chatting. Which by the way isn’t some cute lil squeak that you think half fairies would make. It was more like a manly snorting sound. Disappointing sounds but their cute little feet make up for it. Anyways, I would watch these half fairies fly around and then one would land on the sugar-water feeder. What I realized was these cute things were actually kinda violent when it came to the feeder. When one would land, if the other one tried to get near it, the first one would chase the other one around the yard. It was a beat down. Everytime. Like there wasn’t enough. If only the little one would realize that there was so much more in that feeder then what the half fairy could see. The feeder had this huge bottle connected to it that was full of the sugar water that they were fighting over...do you get where I am going with this? Sometimes, I wonder if that same nature (not the hummingbird beatdown but the worry of there not being enough) can be in us. We desire the gifts, the spiritual sugar holy spirit water but when another person comes along we get intimidated and in a sense want to run that other person off. Not realizing that there is SO much of the Holy Spirit to all enjoy and we all have different gifts!
Twice a week in Pemba, we would have night classes and one of those classes would be in the church. The kids would be everywhere. Usually people go to sleep there when the sun would set because there wasn’t electricity in most of the village. So when it got dark at 5:30 p.m., it was close to bedtime for the people. These kids would be pretty tired when our class would start and by 8 p.m. most of them would be cuddling up to someone or falling asleep on the grass mats laid out in the church. One night, I had this older boy next to me. He looked like he was nine or ten so my guess was that he was really 11 or 12. He would get really close to me but never touch me. He started getting tried and once we sat down from worship, he cuddled right up next to me and fell asleep. I noticed that he had received a present from someone. It was a flashlight which his little hand was gripping. Anytime you gave something to the village kids, it was a status point. So they would carry around flashlights, rubber bands, walk around with headphones without an ipod, paper, pens, etc. Well, these kids would have to hold onto their presents they got otherwise someone else would take it from them. Most had nothing so when they had a little something, it was such a big deal to them. This boy was soooo cute sleeping next to me. I couldn't’ stop staring at him and my heart was just melting. He looked so peaceful. I couldn’t help myself, I just had to give him a little pat/squeeze. I justified it by deciding I would pray for him as I “laid hands on him” :). So as I reached down to touch him, as soon as my hand touched his little back, he jumped wide eyed clutching his flashlight. He glared at me as I gave him this goofy grin saying “Desculpa” (sorry or excuse me) He squinted his little eyes at me and slowly gave me a grin. I m sure he was thinking “silly white girls always trying to cuddle” and then he went back to sleep. But this time, he took his gift (the flashlight) and shoved his hands in his dirty tattered shirt so that nobody would know that it’s there...get here I am going with this one? :) You know, what I love about the spiritual gifts? There is an invitation to use them. They aren’t just for us. Yes, find out and joyfully discover the gifts that are inside of you but thats not the end of the road. The next step is using them for others! Don’t be like that little boy who was so happy that he got a gift that he shoved it inside of his shirt so that nobody would take it away. Ever watch a child unwrap a gift? the delight and joy? You can see that same delight and joy with the parents as they watch the excited child open the gift. What is the first thing that the child does once the gift is opened? He/She takes it out and goes into the backyard to burry it so that nobody takes it? No. He/She takes the gift and puts it neatly on a shelf. No, He/She will immediately, open it up and start using it. They don’t always need the directions, step one and two, they figure it out and have fun with it. Think of how much our Father gives good gifts to his children who ask Him. (Matthew 7:11)
So i guess enjoy the gifts this season. May you continue to discover the beautiful things inside of you that are not just for you to look at but these gifts are to be used for others too.
Lovey yous!
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