Morning Meditation for Monday: Using a Gift
September 14, 2020
2 Timothy 1:6-7 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God
that is within you through the laying on of my hands;
for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice,
but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline (NIV 1984).
Once upon a time I asked for a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. I had seen many pictures of great structures and palaces that one could order. And so, near Christmastime, I asked for one on my wish list. That year someone was kind enough to give me a three-dimensional puzzle of a castle. The picture on the box of this gift was amazing. I placed the box on a shelf where I could see the picture and often looked at it. I was very proud and happy to have been given the gift of this puzzle, something I had wanted for several years.
And there on the shelf the three-dimensional puzzle of the castle sat. Occasionally, someone would spot the box and notice the picture of the castle. I was delighted to tell them about it. I would take the box down from the shelf and explain that, when completed, it formed a miniature replica of a real castle from history that was accurate in every way. Once in a while I would take down the box and look at the directions. I even opened the bag containing the pieces, but I never put the pieces together. Eventually, the puzzle went away, uncompleted and never started.
The Lord gives each of us many gifts. And not all gifts are the same. Journaling was something that I occasionally dabbled at, knowing full well the importance of it. I would take down my journal from the shelf and begin to daily write, all the while intending to follow this discipline. Yet, something would happen and the journal would begin to gather dust on a shelf. After Janet’s death I found that I now journal each day. These meditations are a part of my spiritual practice of journaling. Through them, the Lord reaches out to many other people. And with the practice of spiritual contemplation, along with my practice of reading scripture and praying daily, I find myself growing and maturing in my faith.
There are many gifts that the Lord gives us. But how many of these gifts simply sit on a shelf? How many calls to grow and mature in our spiritual life remain in the box, only glanced at but never used? I knew a lot about journaling from research and study on spiritual journaling. Until I began to practice it daily, I never really opened this gift that the Lord gave me.
Pastor Jim Jackson