One Body, Many Unique Parts

One of my unique gifts is administration. Not very exciting, huh? That’s what I used to think.

Many years ago, on the mission field in post-communist Hungary, I was tasked to help out at a large conference for the physically handicapped, along with another administratively gifted friend. We were given no assignments at the conference, other than to look around and set our hands to whatever needed to be done.

Conference attendees arrived from all over Europe, and were brought to the large hotel on chartered buses. My friend and I realized, however, that when the conference ended, everyone was on their own. These precious believers would need to get to one of four train stations or two airports, yet most did not have money for taxi fare and the public transportation system was not handicapped accessible.

We had 36 hours to arrange transportation for hundreds of people departing at many different times and from many different locations, and the transportation had to be reliable, handicapped accessible and cheap. Believe me, it was a lot harder than it may sound.

I will never forget that weekend. It was as if our gifts, when utilized in tandem, were at their zenith. One of us began to speak and the other could finish the sentence. I would make a mental note not to forget an important detail, only to find that my friend had accomplished it already. At one point, I remember thinking I needed a stapler and the very next second she put on in my hand, with no word spoken.

We were both so uniquely gifted in this area that we seemed to literally think each other’s thoughts, as we both knew exactly what 127 things needed to be done and in which order.

I learned that weekend that I seem to be able to do more to serve the church when I accept who I am and the gifts the Lord has given me. So many times we try to do the hand’s job when we are actually the foot.

This applies to my homeschool, as well. For more on teaching according to your own unique strengths, read my post Bring Your A Game.

Our children also have special gifts to offer. My recent post on Counter-Cultural School, Is There an Expert in the House? addresses how we can help our children develop their own unique gifts.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 1 Corinthians 12: 14-20