The missing stick thingy....

It was EARLY yesterday morning and I was already in my car and on my way. How early? Well, I discovered that God doesn't even turn on the lights until 6:30 and that was still a ways off! Still, I'd promised a friend I'd help as a volunteer at the Mighty Magnolia Triathalon here in South Mississippi. I was definitely tired since I'd been up late the night before taking my daughter to an out of town football game, still - a promise is a promise, so I was on my way. I almost stopped for coffee, but I was running a bit late and my friend assured me there'd be coffee waiting.
I finally found the race site (in the middle of nowhere it seemed...actually it wasn't that far but did I mention that God still hadn't turned on the lights yet?) I made my way to the volunteer tent where I received my t-shirt and this question - Do you know how to use one of those big percolator coffee pots? Well, the answer was no, but how complicated could it be? Coffee was my favorite beverage so while I was no barista, I was sure I could figure out how to make it.

I found the pot and tentively took the lid off and looked inside. Okay, I'd figure this out. It makes 45 cups so I'd just do the math. Another volunteer arrived with the water and I was just about to begin when it hit me - something was missing. I looked and looked for the little "stick-thing" that holds up the pan that holds the grounds only I couldn't find it. We all started searching, but still no stick-thingy. It looked like we'd have to go without my beloved coffee.

I wasn't really upset - I had already had a couple of cups before I left home, but the missing stick-thingy played on my mind for the next few hours. I was telling my husband about it when it finally hit me - today's random thought.

It had been pretty tough to drag myself out of my bed that morning at 4:30. I was tired and could have easily shrugged off going to help, but I had promised....and I don't like breaking my word. But what if we'd all decided that our part was so small it wouldn't really make much of a difference? Well, then we'd have been a bit like that coffee pot with one tiny missing part. It wasn't a huge part, but without it coffee just wasn't going to happen. I don't mind saying it - we all suffered for the absence of that one missing part.

Often in the body of Christ, we get to feeling like we're just not that needed. Maybe we stay home from church, or don't volunteer - or volunteer and then don't show up, or a hundred other times when we feel like it's okay for us to just sit it out. Then, whether we know it or not, we become like that missing stick-thingy and everyone suffers at least a bit.

Now I realize that God gives us seasons of rest and sometimes things happen that keep us from keeping our word to our commitments, but most of the time we just don't show up...either physically or emotionally. Yet someone is counting on us to be there...we are not just some unimportant little piece. We are the stick-thingy and without us coffee is just not going to happen!

I don't know if you ever feel like you could just move and no one would notice, or that you could just stop coming and it really wouldn't make much of a difference at all. But that's not how it works - we are one body, jointly fit together for a purpose. You are important to those around you and mostly to God. Find your spot and show up! After all, that's half the battle...and we need that coffee!

Romans 12:3 - 8
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. ⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your^[a] faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,^[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. "

1 Corinthians 12:4 - 6
⁴ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.