Limitations

Katie and I have been thinking about the subject of limitations recently.  We've both found ourselves very limited in our work at various points during this summer.  First it was washing out of the Amazing Race because we couldn't keep up.  Then I (John) sprained both of my ankles in the span of a couple of weeks.  I came down with a brief cold, then I found myself incapable of concrete work because of my nerve damage in my neck and shoulders.  Then Katie came down with the flu, and then I was totally drained by some major diahhrea.  We're both well from our illnesses now, but the staff here says it's an epidemic all over Trujillo because of the climate change (it's winter, we go nearly a week between seeing the sun, which means it stays pretty cold).  We've passed seven weeks, past the half-way mark through our summer adventure, and clearly God is trying to say something to us.

Having so many limitations is very challenging when we're volunteering with an organization that really puts a lot of focus on manual labor and physical exertion.  We've both struggled through feelings of inadequacy and feeling like we don't fit in here.  Other than when we're in bed sick, we're pretty much finding good ways to pitch in and be part of the team as much as possible, but I think God is saying something to us.  Whether we're here or back home in our jobs, every team needs a variety of skills and strengths.  If we were all a team of manual laborers, we'd probably get a lot of work done, but we might really fail at ministering to teams that pass through.  Back home in our workplaces, we need a variety of gifts to accomplish the missions of each of our organizations.  It's way too easy for us as humans to get focused on our own gifts and compare others to ourselves, getting frustrated at them when they don't measure up.

It's a good message especially for me.  Anyone who knows me back home knows that I'm a high-capacity, full-speed worker.  I work hard all day, then go home and work hard all evening whether it's managing the home, doing school, or volunteering for some organization.  I go 100%, and then some, constantly.  Sometimes I'm arrogant with others about that, and put a lot of pressure on others to work up to the measure that God has granted me.  Translated into this context, I'd be a construction foreman pushing everyone to go, go, go, and not let up.  I'd have little compassion on those with different gifts, or those limited in some way in their labor.  Learning this lesson here in Trujillo doesn't necessarily mean that I need to go home and drop a lot of my activities (although there may be a message about sabbath in there for me too), but it does mean that I need to have more compassion and encourage others in their own giftedness, not try to conform them to my own.