Wednesdays Word......Available

First off sorry you're stuck with just me this week. No music, no lyrics, no polished speaker, not even a slide show; just a few of my thoughts.

These last couple of weeks there's been a recurring thought that has been stuck in my head and it has been constantly brought up and reaffirmed by those I come in contact with and that is "making yourself available" to God. To be used by God, to share God, to hear but more importantly to listen to God, to be moved by God, to be open to the call of the Holy Spirit....it really doesn't matter because when you make yourself available things just happen and there's really no other way to describe it.

It can be kind of a scary notion though because when you make yourself available by putting aside your will for His and by just humbling yourself by being obedient to His word you generally end up being used in a manner you may not exactly anticipate or like for that matter. We aren't wired to be servants so taking on those tasks we may see and menial are sometimes just what the doctor ordered to help fix our vision and get it more in tune to what God wants us to see. We are His hands and feet in this world and unless we see the world around us through His eyes we aren't going to be much use to those who need us the most if we can't see their "needs".  

Many times we see ourselves as unworthy or not ready for a task even when we know that God will equip us in due time with what ever we need. It's just hard to see past "us". We always have that doubt. We know who and what we are and many times we get hung up on who or what we were and are ashamed or embarrassed or feel we can't do a lot of things because we have failed in the past. I taught (I use that term loosely) OK maybe led (they'd probably laugh at that one) or better yet how about I just touched on the topic of the term talent in our small group's most recent get together. Most of us know the parable of the talents from Matthew 25:14-30 either from Sunday school or have probably heard it preached on many times but I finally saw it from a slightly different view because we've been going through the book The Hole In Our Gospel written by the president of World Vision Rich Stearns. While it was only 2 pages of the book it stuck with me the most. But he focused on the fact that our talent regardless of what we or others see it as; is us. It's just not our athletic ability or propensity in a specific academic field; it's everything about us. It's our life story. Everything combined from our up bringing, our circumstances, our experiences both good and bad to our attitudes and beliefs. It's one giant puzzle piece in God's grand plan and while it is unique and has a place; just remember it touches others and they need it to make their piece fit too.

Even though we may not think the pain or even the joys we've been through in our life can help others it most certainly can and does. I'm not talking about engineering some world altering event (thought it could be) it just needs to make a difference to that one person who needs you to help them connect the dots so they can make sense of it all and to possibly complete just a little bit of the bigger picture for them. I think I'm in the midst of making myself available. It could just be through putting these thoughts here for someone to see but I don't know. I will find out though.....I just have to listen and be available.