Posted by Dinah on July 14, 2002, at 11:37:33
My Sunday School class has been discussing lately differing gifts of the spirit. And I thought it was an excellent exercise in recognizing our own qualities or the qualities of others as gifts. Especially, perhaps, in recognizing our own gifts. And it has been a huge blessing to our class.
Some examples were the gift of prayer, the gift of being able to inspire others, the gift of being able to make others laugh, the gift of intellectual understanding, the gift of wisdom, etc. Today we recognized in one woman the gift of being able to recognize the blessings in her life.
Someone once told me, and others (including my Sunday School teacher) have agreed since then, that one of my strongest gifts is that I see things just a bit differently than others. This causes me to be a "challenge" sometimes, but also helps others think about their own long held but not deeply examined beliefs, thus helping others strengthen their own beliefs and come to a deeper understanding of them.
As you can well imagine, this "gift" is not one I always welcome, but it is a good exercise for me to see it as a gift rather than a curse.
The gift I would most love to have is the gift of relationships. There was a woman at church once who I admired more than any person I have ever known. To sum her up, she once told me "Dinah, you're weird." And she made it seem like the most natural acceptable thing in the world. In other words, she saw people as they actually were, warts and all, and she warmly accepted them. She made everyone feel welcome and comfortable. What a gift - the gift of relationship and acceptance.
So, I was wondering... What do you see as your gifts of the spirit? What gifts do you most admire in others?
poster:Dinah
thread:484
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20020527/msgs/484.html