Having been called upon to point out five peculiar abilities of mine, and to elaborate on their purpose, significance, and application, that is, to answer why and how, I shall now address them in alphabetical order. These were chosen based on a “Positive Experiences” quiz of sorts, followed by an analysis of these experiences. The following are those abilities which came up most frequently, or had the largest impact on making the experiences positive.
1. Being Adaptable: To be quite honest, I would not have guessed this one, yet it was unanimous among the experiences I chronicled. It has to do with being flexible, changing in necessary areas to fit the context and the demands of the moment. “Go with the flow” comes to mind. This ability is applicable in a great host of situations, as nearly nothing in life goes exactly as planned. In fact, I am hard pressed to come up with an example in which the plan was not in some way modified or discarded entirely. In an occupation such as the one I am now in, adaptability is vital. It would also be vital in the pastorate, which I long to pursue.
2. Building Relationships: This particular quality is one that I have enjoyed since my childhood. I began my life being very choosy about whom I built them with, but have steadily become more and more open to loving people. When I was young, I thrived at family reunions where I could sit for hours and listen to my elders tell story after story of bygone days. I would write some of it down, and collect information from them. But often those relationships were no more than my desire to acquire information. More and more I long to get to know people, and to genuinely care about them and what they are doing. The times when I get to show Christ’s love through caring for others, I am positively delighted. This is also applicable in numerous ways. As long as I live, the people around me will need love, and I can show Christ to them through relationships.
3. Directing & Taking Charge: When I was very young this ability was quite evident to those around me. In group projects I took charge and delegated and got stuff done. This was greatly discouraged by my teachers, who encouraged us to share the load and work together. Of course that meant I couldn’t take charge or delegate. So by middle school I just shut up in group projects, and decided that if they didn’t like my input or my direction, I would just hold up my end and be done with it. This year I have had the opportunity to be in charge again and it has been delightful. We work together and get things done when someone is in charge, and I like being that person. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind it when I’m not in charge; I’m just fine with listening and doing what I’m told. But when no one is in charge, or someone else takes charge who doesn’t know what he (or she) is doing, I get very frustrated. And the whole, “share the load” thing, where no one is in charge and everyone still thinks that work is going to get done, that drives me insane. When everyone is standing around doing nothing, I take charge if I can. This is certainly applicable in the pastorate, and also for Beyond Help. Administration in the dishroom is actually quite invigorating.
4. Inspiring & Motivating: This was the second of my two abilities which were unanimous among my experiences. I am an excited person, and I thrive when the people around me are as excited as I am about the same thing. This is helpful to make things which would otherwise be boring, exciting. Of course life is full of boring stuff, so this is applicable about everywhere.
5. Public Speaking: This category was not as prevalent, but it is very strong. When I get to preach, or really speak in any capacity, it is invigorating. This is great because on many occasions communicating the same thing to many people is necessary. Speaking to them one at a time is impractical, but addressing them corporately is efficient. Having this ability is very useful in a variety of situations, but especially in the pastorate for preaching. ¡Que fantastico!
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