The Apostle Paul wrote this to the church in Corinth. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
In late April I’ll celebrate 76 years on planet earth. I’ve visited four continents and seen unbelievably beautiful sights. God does good work! Today, I want to share about one of those places – Utah’s Bryce Canyon. Shortly before the Covid shutdown in early 2020, Pam and I stood on an overlook there, with the blue sky and wispy white clouds looking down on snow-topped red and yellow sandstone pillars, called hoodoos. Splashes of green from stubby trees clinging to the canyon walls dotted the scene. Everything came together to form a magnificent expression of God’s creation.
Before leaving we bought a jigsaw puzzle that mirrored what we saw. Now, I’d like you to imagine “what if?” with me. What if we’d gotten home and some of the pieces were missing? What if our eye was not attracted to the whole, but the hole? What if?
The Holy Spirit gifts each one of us, every one of us, so that working together we can demonstrate the common good intended by God, not just in his creation but in His Body.
We must never discount our role because our piece is too small or our shape is too irregular. We must not abstain from fitting into his plan because our piece is in the shadows and not the more prominent place in the blue sky that we so admire. And perhaps even covet.
It would be a shame if we opened the puzzle box and couldn’t duplicate the scene we remembered. But it would be a terrible tragedy if the world were unable to see God’s design because we withhold our portion from its view.
