Variety

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. Romans 12

I just found out that a local grocery store sells jelly beans in bulk. That means that I can buy only the flavors that I like and not have to wade through some nasty ones. I hate it when I think I am getting a coconut one and it turns out to be buttered popcorn. Yuck! Who wants a jelly bean that tastes like popcorn? Why not just eat popcorn! I thought it would be cool to buy only the flavors I enjoy. For those of you who remember that I was fasting from sugar for my Bible Study on Daniel, I am finished with that section of the book and had my official okkedookee from Beth Moore to indulge again (well, not exactly indulge, but at least to break my fast) At $5.99 per pound, I tried to be selective. They even have special zip lock bags to fill, so I loaded one with coconut, bubble gum, toasted marshmallow and cotton candy. The bag goes under these big tubes. By releasing a lever, the candy slides into the bag. It is tricky to stop the flow and not end up one type. All pink and white, they looked so pretty! At first, it was great. I filled my mouth up with just one flavor at a time. Hmm. Coconut. Yum. Toasted Marshmallow. Wow. Bubble Gum. Gross. Cotton Candy. I thought I would like the Cotton Candy flavored ones, but they were icky. Now, when I reach in the bag, I have to avoid the dark pink ones. After a while, one flavor at a time got boring, so I started mixing them up. That tasted good, too. But, then I realized that only having three flavors to choose from was a little boring. I still have a lot of jelly beans to finish before I can go back for more, but I think next time, I will get a variety of all flavors. Except buttered popcorn of course. In life, it would be pretty boring if we were all the same. God gave us each special gifts to use to minister to each other and to use to tell others about Him. Just like our body has many parts but without each one we would not be able to live, the Christian life needs each of our gifts to function properly. It is important that none of us think we are better than the other just because we have a certain gift or ministry. They were all given by God and none are better than the other. They are all the same sweet goo in the middle. The Bubble Gum jelly bean is no better than the Cotton Candy just because I like one over the other. I am sure that there are a lot of people who prefer Cotton Candy jelly beans. Although I can’t imagine anybody likes a buttered popcorn one. Enjoy and use the gift God has given you. It is special and the body of Christ can’t get along without it!