I’m sitting in an auditorium right now because my daughter, Jayden, has a concert later today.  I traveled with her yesterday to a conference center where children and young adults from all over the state of SC are gathering this weekend to be part of a musical project.  The 5th and 6th graders are forming a chorus, and so are the 7th and 8th graders.  The 9th-12th graders are either part of a chorus, orchestra or praise team.  These kids are being put through their paces.  They checked in, ate supper and then went to work.  Rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing.  They got to bed late and got up early and went right back to work.

I can hear them practicing now as I type this.  They are starting to sound good and are working out the kinks.  They didn’t know each other when they got here, but in a few hours they will lift their voices together as one voice in praise to God.  It’s pretty cool to be here and I have to admit that my eyes get a little misty as a proud Mom. I’m so thankful that my girl has this opportunity to learn to use the gifts God has given her.  And not only learn to use them, but to use them in a way that brings glory to God.  It is an honor for her to be a part of this.

But anytime we get to use our gifts for the glory of God, it’s an honor.  Unfortunately we don’t always think of who we are or what we have as a gift.  I don’t think we  recognize the things that God has given to us.  And even more importantly we don’t recognize what God can do with what we have.

Take a look at Exodus 4:2-3.  In my Bible this chapter falls under the title “Signs of the Lord’s Power”.  God has just given Moses a huge task to go to Egypt and set the Israelites free, but Moses protests that he can’t do it.  Here’s the Lord’s response:

Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.

“Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.

Moses just had an ordinary shepherd’s staff.  A stick.  But when God decided to use it….it came alive.  It became the extra-ordinary.  It became powerful.  All he had to do was lay it down before God. Later in verse 17 when Moses finally agrees to go, God says:

And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.”

But in verse 20 this is how that same staff is referred to:

So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to the land of Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God.

Whatever you have in your hand, your possession, your heart, your home.  No matter how ordinary it may be, how weak, how little.  Once God decides to use it….it becomes alive.  It becomes the extra-ordinary.  It becomes the powerful.  It becomes the instrument of God!  All you have to do is lay it down before God.

I’m glad Jayden can sing……..especially since I can’t.  But more important than her talent is her willingness to be used by God.  To lay her talent and herself down before God.  That is the prayer of this Momma’s heart.

Maybe you can’t sing.  But can you cook?  Make a meal for someone.  Can you drive?  Pick up someone who can’t drive and take them to church or the grocery store.  Can you work?  Give some money to someone who has less than you.  Can you hug someone?  Can you pray?  Can you smile?

The great tennis play Arthur Ashe said:  “Start where you are.  Use what you have.  Do what you can.”  Wherever you are…..Whatever you have……Whatever you can do….lay it down before God.  He will use it and it will become the instrument of God.