Over the last few days, I’ve come face to face with a strange phenomenon. No, not the curious success of Jersey Shore, although that just might possibly be a sign of the impending Apocalypse. You thought Paris Hilton was a little lacking in the cognitive development area? The cast of Jersey Shore has the collective IQ of a fruit bat, and worse hair. No, this is one I’ve encountered before, many times, but it really just hit me what was going on this time. See, I got sick a few days ago. I rarely get sick. I don’t get those 24 hour things that most normal people get, or wake up with a headache, take it a little easier than normal, and by morning I’m right as rain. No, though I rarely get sick, when I do, it’s for real. It’s not going a couple of rounds with the Common Cold and calling it good. It’s getting smacked in the face by some unpronounceable name that may or may not involve wearing a gown for a while that doesn’t fully close in the back, but almost certainly involves several doctors conferring, and usually a variation of the following question. “Mr. Doell, have you spent any time in Sub-Saharan Africa recently? And/Or eaten large quantities of lead?” I had a spinal issue misdiagnosed by no fewer than 4 doctors in a row several ago...I contracted a flesh-eating bacteria in Belgium that took all the skin off my feet...Two summers ago, I became possibly the first person in recorded history to get Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in my own front yard (which is, strangely, not within a thousand miles of the the Rocky Mountains).
But the phenomenon is not the incredibly good luck I’ve had with strange diseases. Rather, it’s the fact that at the precise moment I’m too sick to do a certain thing, that thing is all I want do. Currently, my throat is inflamed to the extent that the act of swallowing a simple cup of tea looks suspiciously like I’m having a seizure...Needless to say, talking’s not a breeze right now. Yet, curiously, I am enjoying a burning desire to sing the likes of which I’ve never experienced, and cannot in any way act on. I never have a burning desire to sing. I sing just well enough to sometimes successfully convey the intended melody to other sentient beings. But now that I can’t do it at all, it’s all I want to do. Strangely, this is combined with a near-constant desire to be working out. Fat chance of that, since I’m out of breath after typing a two-syllable word right now, but wouldn’t you know it - in this moment where I can’t do anything physically productive, all I can think about is lifting heavy things.
The bottom line is that the desires just aren’t matching up with the ability, and it happens to me every time I get sick. But it’s a phenomenon not limited to me, and certainly not restricted to sickness. I find myself around people all the time that really, really want to do certain things, but aren’t necessarily (to put it as politely as I can) gifted with a commensurate amount of ability, or even potential. I’ve certainly been there myself. And this is a tough topic, believe me. Because, so the thinking goes, who are we to judge whether or not someone can do something or not? And I guess that’s true in one sense. If you love to sing, but you know you can’t carry a tune in a bucket, then warble away, sister. To thine own self be true. Apologize to no one, and let the shower be your adoring audience. And, as a quick aside, I’m not talking about worship services here...You’re not singing for the person next to you, so who cares if you’re pleasing to his ear? You’re pleasing to God’s ear, and that’s what matters. The problem comes when this manifests itself in what we spend our time and energy pursuing; in how we view ourselves, which translates into the roles we try to play in the greater community. I KNOW how much you want to act, but the director has every right not to cast you if you’re, objectively speaking, not good at conveying different kinds of emotion, or can’t remember your lines. Similarly, playing quarterback for your favorite team is a great dream, but there are objective measures for fulfilling that dream. Can you throw the ball better than the average guy or not? It’s nothing personal, it’s just the truth.
And though most of us would agree up to this point, interestingly, one of the places this can sometimes all fall apart is the Church. For some reason, we’ve allowed an idea to creep into the community of Christ that says this - If I want to do something, you have to let me, even if I show no gifting for it. Because to not let me is to stifle the Holy Spirit in me, and you don’t want to do that. The problem with that is that it’s not Scriptural at all. There are several places in the Bible that list different spiritual gifts, and it’s made pretty clear that not everybody’s getting all the same gifts. We know this instinctively, anyway. We just know when someone without the requisite ability to do X tries to hang their hat on doing X. The American Idol audition episodes have been a great example of that...And it’s not mean-spirited, short-sighted, or harsh for us to acknowledge that, though some people would have you believe otherwise. God has created us all very uniquely, with very distinct combinations of gifts, and has great plans for you in the use of those gifts! And each of those gifts is undeniably important to God’s plan for you and to be the kind of person he’s asking you to be to the people around you. Don’t get caught in the trap that says your gifts aren’t as good and necessary as the next person’s!
But neither should we buy into the misguided notion that says that nobody can, or should speak into your life and the effective use of your gifts...We are, by nature, people who have difficulty objectively assessing ourselves. Part of the Church’s function is to help lend gracious perspective to each of us where we have difficulty seeing things well. The Church flourishes when we all operate the way God created us to (and by flourishes, I mean that people are loved and supported and taught and led and served, and it all comes together in a truly beautiful expression of humble community). Because nobody knows what He created you for better than God Himself, the potential for what can happen when you’re thriving and coming alongside others who are gifted in different ways is absolutely monumental. But we have to get rid of this absurd notion that says that the loving thing to do is to exercise no discernment and let anyone do anything they want to, at everyone’s expense. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is gently help someone redirect their energies into the areas God made them good at. And sometimes, to simply affirm that it’s a great thing to be good at what you’re good at! Think of the amazing possibilities within the Church community if we could stop wishing we were someone we’re not, and revel in being the person God created us to be...
