It appears spring is right around the corner, knocking on the door, skipping up the walk, coming in for a landing, you get the picture. It's just about here! No one, anywhere on the face of the planet could possibly be more ready for it's arrival than I am. Winter has finally broke my yuckometer! The calendar may say spring doesn't officially start till March 20th, but I've got flowers blooming all over the place. Since it's my first spring in the new house I am just now discovering what my yard contains. I have to admit, I had no idea what some of those flowers were. I decided, I didn't have to know their names in order to enjoy them.
Spring brings my thought to other things as well, things such as baseball! I dearly love my baseball. It doesn't matter if it's the majors, college, high school, little league, or simply a thrown together game among friends. There's just nothing like it for me. It's a source of distress for me that, since moving from Atlanta last summer, I can no longer watch the Braves play. One of the boys was a great ball player. I so enjoyed watching him play. I loved the sights and sounds, the smell of the field, the dust, the bad concession stand food, just about everything! Mumbles didn't start out a star player, in fact, when he started at age 10 he really kind of stunk at it! (don't dare tell him I said that!) He stuck with it, he persevered and, eventually, after a lot of hard work, the natural athletic ability God gifted him with won out. He just needed time to develop it.
I was talking with a young person last night, trying to explain something to him with an allegory, and I was, once again, drawn back to the ball field. I realized, as we talked about spiritual giftings and talents, something amazing. Mumbles always had everything he needed to be a great ball player inside him, but he had to access it, he had to develop it, he had to apply himself, put in the work, then he saw the results. It's a common saying that everything about the giant oak is contained within the acorn. This is a little like that premise. I believe we are born with gifts and talents. They can lie dormant for years, or forever, or we can seek them out, discover them and set our hearts to develop them. They are there, trust me on that.
In Judges 6 we find the story of Gideon. Some would say he was not the brightest candle on the cake, yet he still shined before the Lord. He was the one hiding in the winepress threshing wheat. (what was up with that?!?) The angel of the Lord appear to him and called him a mighty man of valor. What?!? Did God realized this "mighty man of valor" was the one hiding from the bad guys? He wasn't working his land bravely, daring the Midianites to mess with him. Nope, he was the one screwing up the winepress with the mess of threshing wheat so he could have a little bread without anyone knowing. (what was he going to do when it was time to use the winepress again and it was filled with the tiny, nasty bits of chaff left by the wheat?? but that's another story for another time) If you read the rest of his story you will see he did, indeed, go on to lead the Israelites to an amazing victory over their enemies, but it would be hard to believe by the way it started. In verse 6 Gideon is given a direction from the angel. The angel tells him to "go in the strength you have". I have heard this taught that we step out in what we have and God will supply the rest, and that is so correct, but I believe there is something more, as well.
As sons and daughters of God we have each been endowed with certain strengths and abilities and callings. Many people never develop those gifts and some never even know they are there. That doesn't change the fact they are. If Mumbles had chosen to never play baseball, to never develop that athletic gift he has been given, it wouldn't change the fact the seed of that ability was in him. It would have laid dormant his entire life.
We have, within us, the seed, of whatever is needed, to fulfill the destiny God has for us. God told Gideon to go in the strength he had. God saw what He had put within Gideon, that seed of strength, of faith, of obedience, he would need in order to follow through with God's plan for his life. It was already there in seed form, Gideon just didn't know it yet, but God never doubted it. God didn't expect Gideon to drop the bunches of wheat and march right out and slay the bad guys all by himself. It was a process. He had to walk step by step with God while that strength, that calling, was developed. In the end, Gideon became what he always was, a mighty man of valor. The only difference was, when it was all over, God was not the only one who could see it.
What seed are you hiding or hiding from? I don't think Gideon was day dreaming of delivering his nation from their evil oppressors as he hid in the winepress trying to come up with a biscuit for his gravy. I think he was trying to survive, but life is about more than simply surviving. Life is about growing, learning, developing what is within us already in order to fulfill our God given destiny and impact the world for the kingdom of Light.
Today I will ask God to give me His eyes, in only for a moment, to see myself as He sees me. What seeds has he planted inside? What destiny does he have for me? What gifts have I left lying dormant? I'm gonna do a little spiritual gardening, if you will. So come on by. I'll be here with trowel in hand! I just hope I don't run into too many bugs, but that's tomorrow's post!
Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor
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