Below is a devotional I wrote for Eastbrook Church Lenten Devotional series. I hope you enjoy it and it blesses you.
Some years ago, my mother gifted me with a handmade quilt. The quilt is a log-cabin design, with rectangular strips representing wooden logs stacked on top of each other. In the center of each quilt block is a small red square, representing the fireplace, the center of the log home. The interesting thing about this particular quilt is that the pieces are made entirely of random scraps and leftover material of varying colors and patterns. These random pieces are cut, arranged, and sewn together, transforming them into a striking, finished product.
Just as the quilt is a beautiful whole constructed of many different individual parts, so are we and our particular gifts. We are all obviously endowed with distinct and various abilities—and this, we must conclude, is what God intended.
Sometimes, though, it is frustrating or discouraging when we cannot see the entire piece God is creating, though we may have glimpses and see bits and pieces of the whole. I have felt this way, and succumbed to settling into discontentment as I compared the fabric of others’ lives with my own.
Our uniqueness, however, is itself a reminder that God has crafted a world of beautiful people with varying gifts, created to reflect Him and His glory to a fraying world with threadbare hope.
We each have a place and purpose in our spheres of influence, our families, our workplaces, the church, and the kingdom of God. Seeing ourselves, our gifts and talents not just for themselves, but as part of a larger, magnificent whole, stitches ourselves more closely to the purpose of the One who made us and placed us in this time and in this place. We have a bigger purpose beyond ourselves, fitting and belonging exactly as He made us, interwoven in a tapestry beautiful beyond our imagination.
DIG DEEPER
- In what areas are you struggling to find your place and purpose? Can you list some areas of gifting that you know God has given you? Thank Him for your unique gifts and ask for direction and guidance in using them. Thank Him that you are part of a beautiful tapestry you cannot yet fully see.
Written by Prasanta Verma
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You can read this entire devotional here:
https://hungryforgoddevotional.wordpress.com/2019/03/20/a-quilt-of-many-talents/
You can read the entire Lenten devotional series here:
https://hungryforgoddevotional.wordpress.com/
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