The twin spiders live next door to each other, one on the outside of the right-hand window of my lounge and the other on the left-hand side. Despite the fact that they look exactly the same in every way – the same size, the same markings and both spend nearly all day every day mending and spinning their webs – I’ve realised that they do have differences; they appear to be in constant competition with each other as to who can make the most beautiful web. One of them weaves his web round and round in circles and the other one weaves his in a horseshoe shape. If it has rained in the night or on mornings when there is a sea mist both webs are covered in tiny diamond droplets that sparkle and shimmer, glisten and giggle, as if they are laughing and full of joy. To me they are both equally beautiful, there is no winner, they have both done things in a slightly different way but they have both given joy and beauty helping me to marvel once again at God’s wonderful creation.
Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are all one body, we have the same Spirit and we have all been called to the same glorious future, but this oneness does not destroy our individuality as the Holy Spirit has given each of us a special gift for building up the church; these gifts may include preaching, teaching, healing, nurturing, administration, building, etc. but each individual gift is absolutely vital for strengthening and building up the whole church. I have a friend at church who sometimes gets rather down thinking that compared to other people she has nothing to offer, but what she finds difficult to acknowledge is that she is wonderful at making cups of tea and coffee for everyone which in my mind is essential in enabling other people to keep going when they might be feeling tired, but it also brings people together so that everyone can socialise and enjoy each other’s company. However small we might think our gifts are or however differently we work, each one of us has a vital role to play which God has given us for a very important reason. Even our deafness can be used to help build up God’s church so let’s thank the Lord for the gifts he has given us however small we feel they might be and let’s use them for his glory.