Do you know you are a gift to the body of Christ?
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 1 Corinthians 12:18
Creator God,
How creative you are!
Sometimes we notice the blue jays
flitting around an oak tree,
and we don’t think much of it,
because they are fairly common in our neighborhood
We say to ourselves, “Oh, it’s just a blue jay!”
But then we actually look at the beautiful blend
of blues and grays and blacks in the blue jay
and realize how cleverly you designed this bird
to help plant new oak trees by spreading acorns.
And we think of how we sometimes look at people
in your body and think
“They’re just blue jays.”
Just another ordinary person,
nothing special.
Or maybe we think about ourselves that way—
“I don’t have any special gifts
to contribute to the body.”
And yet, you have clearly created each one of us
with unique gifts for serving you,
and we need every member of the body of Christ:
“If the whole body were an ear,
where would be the sense of smell?” (1 Corinthians 12:17).
Wondrous Creator,
may we see the wonder of each and every member of your body,
including ourselves,
even if we’re “just a blue jay.”
May we seek you and serve you
with the ordinary gifts you have given us—
the ability to open the door for an older woman,
the heart to send a note to someone we missed in church today,
the hope to believe that redemption is coming
despite the dark landscape we see around us.
In Jesus’ gifting name. Amen.
Read 1 Corinthians 12.
