Theme For The Year 2005: Fellowship with God, self and others.
Stir up the gift of God which is in you (2Tim 1:6)
There was a small community of people living in a country side. There were many parrots in that place and the people lived in harmony with the parrots and the nature. One day a falcon landed in that place and the people were amazed to see that bird, for they had never seen one like that. They managed to get hold of the bird, tried to keep it, but feared that it would fly away. They decided to trim back its feathers, cut its talons, and file down its beak so it would be like the birds they were familiar with. They tried to create a parrot out of a falcon and made external trimming, but utterly failed in changing the real nature of the falcon.
This phenomenon happens in our daily life. We would like others to be like us and if they are not, we will try to trim others off their unique characteristics. So much of our energy is spent towards changing others so as to make them just like us, and we fail utterly. God created the world in His image, the image of unity in diversity. The trinity is the best example of the divine unity in diversity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one in essence but different in functions. Trinity extends us a divine call to grow to the fullness of that image of being one in the midst of our diversities. We will never become Gods, but we can share His image in being united in the midst of all our differences. This would be possible not through trimming others so as to fashion them according to our wish, but through acknowledging their uniqueness as given by God and celebrating
that together.
Paul reminds Timothy and all believers to stir up the gift of God within us (which is given to us). For this, we need to acknowledge, appreciate and build up our given gifts. If everybody does this exercise instead of trimming the gifts of others, there will be a big difference in the life of individuals, families, communities and the whole world. We are here to accept others as they are and to conform to the will of God. Our life is a unique gift of God and we are here not to create others in our image but to celebrate with them their uniqueness and ours.
The greatest gift of God is Jesus Christ, who accepted us as we are, and died on the cross to lead us to the real humanity as designed by God and powered by Holy Spirit.
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