Wednesday’s Word, long time no see!
Today’s word is TRY. You’re probably thinking, “what? I know what that word means.” But let me define it for you and then we’ll dive in to why I chose it. Try means to make an attempt (Webster’s). Historically the word try goes back to the 1300’s to the word trien, “to separate (one thing) from another or others, set apart, distinguish;” especially “separate the good or desired part from the rest,” from Anglo-French trier (13c.), Old French trier “to pick out, cull” (12c.)…Senses develop from the notion of “separate out one thing from another or others by examination.” Thus “examine, evaluate; discover by examination or investigation…” (Etymonline app).
Yesterday we journaled Romans 12: 1-8, verses 6 through 8 outline some of the spiritual gifts meant to edify the church. As I was journaling those verses I thought about the spiritual gifts tests that I have taken in the past and I wondered if perhaps my gifts had changed as I’ve aged. I went online to look for a general spiritual gifts inventory with the idea of sharing it with all of you. However, what I found was that many/most of the gifts inventories are less than balanced and often have biases. Within in the flood of results there was an article that caught my eye, and that was the impetus for this article:
What I loved about the article was that there was no test to take, the main idea was to get out there and serve your church and in the serving you will find your gifting. To me that sounds like try softer, one of the themes of our journaling for this month. I also really appreciated his insight that spiritual gifts inventories can be limiting. The idea that once you “know” your gift/gifts you discount those that are not part of your results. I personally have seen my gifting change and develop as I’ve grown in my faith and as I’ve aged, I bet yours have too. And, how limiting to think that God gives us gifts that are static, like eye color or the size of our feet. He’s far too creative for that!
Hop back up to our historical origins of the word try, “the notion of separating one thing from another by examination…evaluate; discover by examination or investigation.” It is the essence of the article. Start serving in you church and you will discover by examination and evaluation, i.e. “I really enjoy that, I feel like I’m good at that, I look forward to doing more of that…” what your gifting is. And don’t be discouraged if you have some misses, remember, you’re on a quest to examine, investigate, and ultimately discover your God-given gifts. Claim the truth of our scripture from Sunday in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (I would also call these good works gifts), which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” God prepared your gifts ahead of time for you and for the church, now go find out what they are, happy hunting!
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