Book Notes Part 4--Honoring Your Raw Material

The following is my thoughts and processing of the "Honoring Your Raw Material" concept.

Being honest about our gifts and limitations can be difficult I think. We are taught that we can do whatever we set our minds to, but that's not entirely true. We each have strengths and weaknesses, and when we try to operate outside of our giftedness and ablilities we are usually not as effective.

Some of us really struggle on this front. We can spend a lifetime pursuing goals and jobs for which we have little aptitude just because someone else, namely the culture at large, thinks it's a good idea. Sometimes the results are not quite as dramatic, but cause problems nonetheless. We waste time bemoaning our limitations, those things we can't do, at least not as well as others. I wonder what God thinks when we do that. I wonder how it would change us if we allowed our limitations to be a source of freedom instead of pain. I wonder if that's what we are supposed to do.

When we realize stick figures is as good as our drawing is going to get, we can safely eliminate a number of careers and hobbies. If you hate balancing your checkbook, then you probably won't find your place to shine in the accounting department. Realizing what we are not is almost as important as realizing what we are.

When you know what you're not you have the freedom to be what you are without regrets. But it's not always easy to accept our limitations. Some things are relatively trivial. For instance, I've always sort of wished I had a nice singing voice, but I don't. It doesn't keep me up at night though. There are other limits that really bother me though. I'm a very introverted person. Our culture has a definate bias toward extroverts. I've often looked at more extroverted types and been amazed at how easy it is for them to make their way in the world--talking so easily with others and pursuing their goals with a level of energy that makes me tired just watching.

At times I wish I could be like that, but I'm not...and it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with me. My introverted nature provides other strengths, like being a good listener and having a desire to understand people and their problems. The point is, realizing what I'm not (an extrovert in this case) frees me to be what I am without worrying about not living up to someone else's potential. As Ortberg points out in the book, God won't ask us what we did with what we didn't have.