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Friday, August 12, 2011

Tinker Bell's Gifts or Talents

            I have an odd habit that my husband pointed out once, that when I read anything or watch a show or movie, I am always looking for the God message in it. Weird, huh? Really, I see messages of Christianity and God in so many books and movies. I think some call it world view. Scooby Doo teaches you to really stop and scrutinize what others tell you. To never take anything for face value. That may be a mask and someone trying to do something in a way that isn't out in the open. There might just well be alterier motives. This is what I teach my children. There are messages both good in evil in everything around us. Some intentional and some, not so sure.
           Have you ever seen the movie Tinker Bell? I know it seems like a funny question to ask an adult but, really it is a good movie. It is all about how Tinker Bell came to be. If you know anything about fairy lore, you know fairies are born when a baby laughs for the first time. What you learn in the movie is how she became a tinker fairy and truthfully how she struggles with her gift or talent. Not to give away the movie but, after she is born, Tinker Bell must "choose" her talent. Funny thing about choosing is that she doesn't really choose. The talent "chooses" her. Or it is what she is born with and this is how she finds out. She doesn't really even want to go towards the hammer. It follows her and glows "brighter then anyone else's gift ever glowed!" Now comes the beginning of the dilema, she now catagorized as a tinker and she must go with the other tinkers. She is less then thrilled. The two tinkers are well,... dorky, geeky. She would rather go be a garden fairy or a water fairy. They are pretty and their talent is "useful".
             She spends so much of the movie rejecting her talent to go after something she thinks is much more glamorous. She tries many different talents and flops terribly at them all. Yet, you see she is overwhelmingly gifted in tinkering with things. Making things work. Even when she "runs away" to be alone she ends up tinkering with something trying to fix it. It is something she is just drawn to.
             I wonder, am I a tinker fairy? Do I possess a gift from God that I don't think is important enough or glamorous enough? Do I reject the talent that is right at my finger tips all day long? This is a good question for us all to ask. I asked my kids. I made them think about how do we discover our talents? A glowing hammer isn't going to appear out of thin air and circle us to tell us we should be a contractor. But, we do things everyday that tell us what our talent is and what gifts God has blessed us with.
            Don't be discouraged if your talent is organizing or cooking. Maybe you are an encourager. Are you really good at make-up? and hair? We have been taught in church the last couple of weeks that God doesn't bless us with gifts and talents to make our lives happy and comfortable. Not to bless ourselves. We are given those talents to bless others.
           Tinker Bell finds out, and so do the other fairies, that tinker fairies are one of the most important fairies. Everyone needs the tinkers. It may seem like a non-luxurious job but, it is so needed to make everyone else's life run smoothly. Tinker Bell finally understands that her gift is a blessing and she is proud that she is so good at it. She saves the day with her many tinkering abouts. The sad part for Tinker Bell was, she wasn't going to get to do the glorious job. She had to stay back and continue to tinker while everyone else went to far away places to do their jobs. It seemed she was missing out on the spotlight.
             God needs all of us. "Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with  Christ." 1 Corinthians 12:12 We are all needed. All of our "parts" or talents are important. If everyone was a garden fairy, nothing would grow. There would be no water, or light, no bees to pollinate and no tools to help you plant. 
             Be proud of the gift you possess and figure out how to use that gift to the best of your ability. Be a Tinker fairy and be proud. 

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