Prayer: Father, creator, and friend: help me to know my gifts and use them in service to you and your world. Guide me in where I go and what I do. Amen.
Reading: Romans 12:1-8 (Click here to read text) Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther's GROW Time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: I have had a lot of jobs. When I was in grade school, I read a book about shining shoes and then went around to neighbors, offering the service. It didn’t last long, but I still remember the pride of receiving praise and a quarter for every pair polished and buffed. At McDonald’s, about six years later, I earned smiles (and quite a few more quarters) greeting customers and getting to know a few regulars. Regulars became friends when I started bartending, listening and learning and sometimes sharing my own stories. Out of college, I taught English: more stories, more smiles, more sharing. Most recently, I joined a lifelong learning program which brings me together with new people and their fascinating life experiences. There have been other positions, of course, but only a few didn’t work out. Those were because I didn’t have the right gifts to manage well what needed to be done. (I learned from the one-hour-film-development industry, mechanical operations are not one of my skillsets!) I am reminded of Martin Luther’s exhortation that every occupation holds honor before God, so long as it’s done with a glad heart and to the best of our ability; by serving humanity we serve God. Soon, I will be looking for a new, full-time career. With God’s help, I will find a calling where I may best apply whatever gifts God has given me to better my life and the hearts of others. --Heather LeBlanc
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