Gap Fillers

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.

I volunteer alongside a man who loves numbers. Spreadsheets are his specialty, and his ability to transform numerical gibberish into tidy bar graphs and other easily digestible statistics never fails to impress me. Over the years, I’ve realized that he and I are both storytellers; it’s just that his stories are distilled and compiled from reams of paper filled with data and numbers.

I’m grateful for his expertise and skill set, especially because his strength shores up my admitted mathematical weakness, and he’s grateful for my ability to edit and rework language for clarity and consistency. Rather than competing or undermining one another’s contributions, we intentionally fill one another’s gaps. The result of our cooperative appreciation is a combined work product superior to what either of us could produce on our own.

While we are all created in God’s likeness, we are magnificently diverse in so many ways, including interests, abilities, and skills. This wasn’t by chance. We are built for community, and community naturally requires different areas of strength, aptitude, and talent. The strongest teams I know include divergent expertise and aptitudes. They are made up of people who pull out the creative best in others, acknowledging contributions and exhibiting gratitude toward one another and God for the strengths found in working together toward a common goal.

Instead of shame or resentment over skill sets that come harder to us than others, what if we simply acknowledged the difficult areas, asking God to fill in our gaps with the knowledge and expertise of those around us? What if we sought out people whose strengths balance our weaknesses in our organizations and communities, filled with gratitude for their contribution instead of feeling jealous or insecure? It’s countercultural, but so much of what God calls us to do and be is the opposite of what the world says.

Julie

Today’s Act of Gratitude

Who makes you better in an area of life because they fill in a gap? Thank them specifically for their skill set or knowledge and, if appropriate, do so publicly.