Differing Gifts and Abilities

If the people about you are carrying on their business or their benevolence at a pace which drains the life out of you, resolutely take a slower pace; be called a laggard, make less money, accomplish less work than they, but be what you were meant to be and can be. You have your natural limit of power as much as an engine,--ten-horse power, or twenty, or a hundred. You are fit to do certain kinds of work, and you need a certain kind and amount of fuel, and a certain kind of handling.
-George S. Merriam

All of us are different. I can do things you can’t and you can do things I can’t. Or maybe I can do certain things but not very good.

I have a handyman business. It is successful partly because I know what I can and can’t do. Many times, I have to turn down jobs because I have to admit that it is beyond my abilities.

I probably work for more women than men. Sometimes I get comments from the women that they wish their husbands could or would fix things. I usually answer that I’m glad they don’t or I would be out of business.

Many times when I hear that kind of comment I am working in a very big and expensive house. It’s obvious to me that the husband certainly has some abilities that translate into making good money. As I was putting up some shelves on Wednesday my customer made the comment that she wished her husband would do things like that. This was in the garage of a million dollar home and fifteen feet away from a Maserati sports car that cost close to $100,000.

Sometimes it is wise that these husbands are not doing the repairs. Some would mess it up and some would spend all day doing something they could pay me an hour of time to do.

So why are we messed up on things like this? What about in the spiritual area? There also, we have different gifts and abilities. It’s easy to get hung up trying to imitate someone else. We waste time and energy doing things we are not equipped to do and end up not doing what comes natural or supernatural.

Conversation with strangers does not come easy to me. I can push myself but I will never be like many others who can walk up to a stranger and converse on spiritual or other matters. Because of this, I will never be very good at what we call “witnessing” in the church.

I know of some things I am good at. That is where I need to spend my time and attention. I need to know and accept my limitations. I can’t let what others are able to do make me feel inadequate and I shouldn’t hold my abilities over their head either. I need to rejoice and be satisfied in the way God has made me.

Philip