Every Little Piece

"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 measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully." Romans 12:3-8

Have you ever built a jigsaw puzzle? You know how you're working on a big sky section, and every single piece is colored the same, yet is very different, and only goes together one way? It can get terribly frustrating putting that puzzle together. But eventually, with perseverance, you do manage to figure out how the pieces go together and you are rewarded with a completed puzzle.

People are the exact same way. We all have different ways that we are different, yet each of those differences are important to the group as a whole. And in the end, all those differences work together to make one big picture in the body of Christ. Where one person may be gifted in accounting and budgeting, another person is gifted in shopping frugally and getting the best bang for the buck. One person may be talented at doing crafts and being creative, another person may be gifted with keeping a place clean. Sometimes these different talents may butt heads, they may disagree and have differing opinions. But that is only because they aren't looking at the whole picture in the right way. By utilizing each persons' unique gifts and talents, the whole picture will come into focus, with each person fitting in in just the right place.

So what piece are you? Are you doing what you can to fill in your place in the puzzle?