Monday, October 21, 2024  

---

Today's Scripture
1 Corinthians 12:1–11

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. (NRSV)

---

Reflection

I was uninformed. When I saw “Spiritual Formation” on the assignment sheet for these devotions, I was like a little child being given a duplicate of a toy.

“But I've got one!” I have a spirit.

Then I looked at these verses. As I read and typed them, I thought of growing up. My mother taught home economics — cooking and sewing — and my father taught physics. I learned that the best reply wasn't “I've got one!” It was “What do I do with it?”

From sewing patterns to recipes to experiments, I learned to figure out how to use things. After one museum exhibit about dresses, I created “copies” of the dresses for some dolls using Kleenex. (Or “Kleenices” as Dad said must be the plural, as in index, indices.)

I realized that I loved words and stories more than sewing. But what was I going to do with that gift? How did it work?

In some ways, I'm still figuring that out. What's the pattern I can trace? What should I experiment on to see whether it works? When I'm editing someone else's writing or taking a second look at my own, I like to keep a sort of “Editing Channel” playing in my mind. Is this the best way to say what's meant? What could be better? Whose work should I be reading?

My books and my writing are my tools, just as my father's hammer and my mother's fabric were their tools. Since writing is one of my gifts, this is my gift to you.

So what did you get? Let me see it!

---

Prayer
Loving God, help us to figure out what is in the gifts you give us and how you want us to use them. Let us use them together. Amen.

---

Written by Margaret Laing, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

Devotion index by date | I’d like to receive daily devotions by email