You know that idea people tend to have of meditating? Like, that it involves yoga poses and visions of ocean waves crashing gently onto the shore?
Not so much my version of meditating.
Today, I stole a few minutes on a bumpy van ride back into town after doing door-to-door evangelism and house visits. I closed my eyes, smiled at my teammates singing Disney songs around me, and imagined us running to greet God (still singing, of course) as He sat in a comfy armchair. In that moment, I realized that, for some reason, when I see myself hanging out with God while I meditate, they always look like the Powerpuff Girls. Tiny bodies, no necks, giant heads.
But wait! This gets spiritual, I promise.
I didn’t watch a ton of Powerpuff Girls episodes when I was younger, due to not having Cable TV, but I remember those opening credits well. The Powerpuff Girls were created with sugar and spice and everything nice…and then a little something extra.
That’s the same way God has created each one of us.
Our “something extra” isn’t a weird chemical that gives us cool superpowers, but instead the spiritual gifts that we’ve been given. God has given some of us the power of teaching, some the power of healing, the power of preaching, the power of listening, the power of nurturing.
I clearly have some issues with the variety of ministry the World Race offers, but one thing they do really well is in encouraging us to develop our own talents, our own gifts. A lot of times this happens simply because of the tasks we have: speaking in churches, visiting church members, and doing neighborhood evangelism. These are things most of us have never done before – things I had never considered doing before. They take us out of our comfort zone for sure, but I have found that that’s the best place to grow.
So while all this talking ministry won’t be high on my to-do list when I get home (or wherever I end up), it has helped me grow in confidence in my own abilities and helps me see the areas where I do have stronger gifts.
