What are you good at? - Devotion for 10/14/08

What are you good at? – Devotion for 10/14/08

A funny thing happened on the way to the office . . . This morning as I was trying to head out of the house to go to the office, I had to take something back to my boys room, and just when I turned the handle I heard a “crunch.” I thought to myself, “That didn’t sound good.” And it wasn’t. I tried to turn the handle again, and I had nothing – it wouldn’t turn at all. So I applied some of my Herculean strength, got the knob to turn again, and I got some more really cool “snap, crackle, pop” type sounds as well. I knew something was wrong with the door knob, and I had to get a handle on things (get it?). So I got out my trusty screwdriver, and proceeded to thoroughly and effectively destroy the complete handle mechanism, unintentionally of course. As I looked at what remained of the door knob to my sons room, and I saw all the tiny pieces that once were a part of something that was able to keep Mom and Dad out when they wanted us out, I knew I had messed up. Fortunately, every Tuesday some of the Trustees of the church come and walk through the building to see if there is any maintenance that needs to be taken care of, and since the house we live in is owned by the church, I went across the street to get one of those guys to take a look. Sure enough, I broke the knob. But also sure enough, they are getting a new one to replace it. And on top of that, they are installing it for me!

So I thought it was kind of funny to finally sit down for my devotion time, and to begin by reading these words from Romans 15:1 – “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.” Today I proved that I am quite inept at being a handyman. However, though that may be a weakness of mine, I was able to rely on the strength of another. It was a good reminder to me how we all have certain strengths, and those strengths are to be used in such as way that they can help someone else. So today, what are you good at? What is your area of expertise? How may you bear the weakness of someone else, instead of just pleasing yourself?