Girl Scout cookies are officially over for me!! We took our leftovers to Martha's Vineyard (A "Feed the hungry" kitchen)today. I am soooo relieved to be done with them. I have been hauling them in my van for quite some time. Only six scouts came because it is Spring Break in our county. It was so fun to only have six girls...we stopped for milkshakes on the way back and let them play at a playground on this most beautiful of days!!

I have lots to do, my friends and I are having a yardsale next Sat. and there is much to be done for me. I still have not listened to the last two discs by Arthur Burk, but I do want to tell a bit about it.

It boils down to the theory that we are all BORN with a redemptive gift. The categories are: prophet(not prophesy-er,more oral communicator), teacher, ruler, giver, servant, exhorter, mercy. It is very interesting because as I listened to the descriptions of each gift, people's names started popping into my head. It makes so much sense, why some things we do to serve the body of Christ drain us and others make us feel like we are walking on air.

Servants serve and love it, there is no fakeness, they genuinely love to do things for others and do it often. Teachers love to exhaustively look at things from every angle and slowly make their decisions/changes. They love to take in info from many sources and then boil it down to a conclusion. As a prophet, I was described as someone who likes to take chaos and organize it. Another trait is the love of starting things, or changing things, not so much maintaining things. A love of change and improving current designs belong to the prophet. The other trait is intuition about people. I have been told I have that and feel like I do as well. The biggest struggle for the prophet is damaged relationships and a critical spririt because we are constantly "judging" things (a grocery store example was: which line moves fastest, if someone is a "good" checker, good produce display, clean store, etc.- not DETAILS so much as the FLOW of the experience)I actually don't look at things too closely because it is too overwhelming...dirt on baseboards, paint trimming not done well, unclean walls, etc...I have trained myself NOT to notice things because I notice too too much when my noticer is on. I am well-trained too, you can change your kitchen paint from white to green and you will probably have to tell me. Not noticing helps me focus on people not stuff. I enjoy visits with people, not looking at stuff. Excuse me, I digress, the concepts of this study are fascinating. Mr Burk has been working on this with others for more than 25 years. It is his theory that we all have a bit of each gift in our personality-but one of them will stand out in an undeniable way. I loved it. I want more info-but their website seems to only sell info and I am cheap. My friend will loan me more I think!! I'll keep you posted. Knowing your "gift" helps us understand why we are the way we are, it is also valuable when deciding where best to plug in. There is much talk about spiritual gifts, but usually it discusses those gifts in the Bible that we can all have, hospitality, singing, teaching,etc. The redemptive gifts just lets you know your personality strengths, it does not define what you can and cannot do. He further states that as we mature in Christ, we can have all of the fruits of the spririt, we can have all of the spiritual gifts, we just need to ask God for them and he will give them as we can handle them.

My biggest pet peeve is when someone says, "I can't teach children because that is not my spiritual gift...God obviously means for me to sit on my pew and keep it warm as I have the spritual gift of warmth." YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN SISTERS!!!????? Our gifts should enrich our service, not eliminate it!
That's a whole other BLOG!! Don't even get me started!