Part 1: Uncovering Your S.H.A.P.E. · Lesson 4
God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. Those abilities are clues to his purpose for your life.
"Show me a person who doesn't know his talents or hasn't developed them for service to others, and I will show you a person who has little sense of purpose, meaning, motivation, and value."Tom Paterson
My wife stared at me from across our kitchen island. I knew she expected me to say something in reply to what she had just unloaded. I prayed for the right words.
"I'm just a mom," she'd said. "I really don't have much to offer at this season of my life, Erik. All I do is clean, cook, and shuttle kids from one activity to another. It is a twenty-four-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week assignment. There's little time to rest and less time to think about fulfilling my special purpose from God."
It was the end of a busy day, and she was nearing the end of her rope. By now I knew she didn't need a strategic plan from me; what she needed and wanted was a sensitive ear and heart.
We took a piece of paper and wrote down ten things she loved to do: coach, inspire, run, counsel, encourage, listen, help, read, provide, and organize.
Then we looked at her current commitments to see where these awesome abilities could be put to use for God at this time in her life. Every morning at 5:30 she exercised with a group of women -- a perfect opportunity to coach, inspire, and encourage others. Then there were the women in our small group at church who needed her gifts. Her ability to organize and help could be used to orchestrate the annual pastors' wives retreat and quarterly gatherings.
By evening's end, she had begun to see that God could use her natural abilities during any and every season of her life. All she needed was to be available and aware. It didn't matter whether what she did was noticed by others. Willing hearts are his delight.
Abilities are the set of talents that God gave you when you were born, which he also wants you to use to make an impact for him. They are distinct from spiritual gifts. Talents depend on natural power; spiritual gifts depend on spiritual endowment. Both come from God, and both matter for your Kingdom Purpose.
Rick Warren writes: "The abilities you do have are a strong indication of what God wants you to do with your life. They are clues to knowing God's will for you. God doesn't waste abilities; he matches our calling and our capabilities." If you have a natural ability, it is not an accident. It is one more way God has shaped you for a specific contribution.
Throughout your life, you discover things you naturally love to do. You also discover certain things you can live without doing. The things you enjoy make work more like play. When opportunities to do those things arise, they trigger an energized anticipation to get started. It doesn't seem tiring or time-consuming. People in your life may even comment that what you do seems effortless because of the ease and the sense of joy that is evident when you do it.
The question is: Where do you naturally excel? Are you someone who loves to inspire others? Do you find yourself frequently delivering a "can-do" message? Is creative thinking just part of how you do things? Do you love to work with your hands? Are you musically talented? Are you known as a team builder? Is goal-setting a natural part of your life? Whatever you are naturally good at and love to do -- find a way to use it for God.
The goal is for you to embrace the things you love to do, not just the things you can do. Your job, for example, may require you to lead. But you may not have a genuine desire for leading. If that is the case, why include leadership as part of your unique S.H.A.P.E.?
You can't imagine life without these activities. They make your day complete. Given a choice, you would do these things full-time. These abilities are the way you will meet the needs of the people group you identified in the Heart lesson. They can be -- but don't have to be -- part of your job.
You may enjoy these activities, but don't need to do them on a regular basis in order to feel satisfied. Your attitude toward them is "I can take it or leave it." You may enjoy coaching or teaching, but these things don't satisfy you like the things you really love.
These activities leave you feeling slightly deflated and disappointed compared to what you love doing. When faced with the prospect of having to do these things, your immediate response is to think about not doing them. When you have to carry out these responsibilities on a frequent basis, you feel drained. You may be able to adequately perform these tasks, but you have little or no desire to do them.
Review the list of fifty specialized abilities below. As you consider each one, rate it according to whether you Love It, Like It, or could Live Without It. The goal is to identify the abilities you naturally excel at and genuinely love doing.
For each ability below, select the rating that best describes your experience. Be honest -- this is between you and God. Focus on finding the things you genuinely love, not the things you think you should love.
| Ability | Love It | Like It | Live Without |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adapting -- adjust, change, modify | |||
| Administrating -- govern, run, rule | |||
| Analyzing -- examine, investigate, evaluate | |||
| Building -- construct, make, assemble | |||
| Coaching -- prepare, instruct, train, develop | |||
| Communicating -- share, convey, impart | |||
| Competing -- contend, win, battle | |||
| Computing -- add, estimate, calculate | |||
| Connecting -- link together, involve, relate | |||
| Consulting -- advise, discuss, confer | |||
| Cooking -- prepare, serve, feed, cater | |||
| Coordinating -- organize, match, harmonize | |||
| Counseling -- guide, advise, listen, care for | |||
| Decorating -- beautify, enhance, adorn | |||
| Designing -- draw, create, outline | |||
| Developing -- expand, grow, advance | |||
| Directing -- aim, oversee, manage, supervise | |||
| Editing -- correct, amend, improve | |||
| Encouraging -- cheer, inspire, support | |||
| Engineering -- construct, design, plan | |||
| Facilitating -- help, aid, assist, make possible | |||
| Forecasting -- predict, see trends and patterns | |||
| Implementing -- apply, execute, make happen | |||
| Improving -- better, enhance, further, enrich | |||
| Influencing -- affect, sway, shape, change | |||
| Landscaping -- garden, plant, improve | |||
| Leading -- pave the way, direct, excel | |||
| Learning -- study, gather, understand, grow | |||
| Managing -- run, handle, oversee | |||
| Mentoring -- advise, guide, teach | |||
| Motivating -- provoke, induce, prompt | |||
| Negotiating -- discuss, consult, settle | |||
| Operating -- run mechanical or technical things | |||
| Organizing -- simplify, arrange, fix, classify | |||
| Performing -- sing, speak, dance, play, act | |||
| Pioneering -- bring about something new, original | |||
| Planning -- arrange, map out, prepare | |||
| Promoting -- sell, sponsor, endorse, showcase | |||
| Recruiting -- draft, enlist, hire, engage | |||
| Repairing -- fix, mend, restore, heal | |||
| Researching -- seek, gather, examine, study | |||
| Resourcing -- furnish, provide, deliver | |||
| Serving -- help, assist, fulfill | |||
| Strategizing -- think ahead, calculate, scheme | |||
| Teaching -- explain, demonstrate, tutor | |||
| Translating -- interpret, decode, explain | |||
| Traveling -- journey, visit, explore | |||
| Visualizing -- picture, imagine, envision, dream | |||
| Welcoming -- entertain, greet, embrace | |||
| Writing -- compose, create, record |
Have you ever heard of a guy named Shamgar? He was one of the Hebrew judges who lived between the time of Joshua and King Saul. Shamgar didn't get a lot of space in the Bible, but what he did was remarkable. Outnumbered six hundred to one by an army of Philistines, Shamgar used an oxgoad -- a simple farm tool -- to kill all of them (see Judges 3:31).
"Shamgar was just an average person, no different from you. He was an ordinary human being who lived in extraordinary times, just as we do today. Fact is, if you aren't willing to take on six-hundred-to-one odds, you'll never achieve anything great. Nothing worth doing is ever easy. Significant achievements always involve a high degree of courage, focus, perseverance, and yes, risk."Pat Williams
Shamgar didn't wait for better weapons or a bigger army. He used what he had -- an oxgoad -- and God used him in an extraordinary way. The same principle applies to your abilities. You do not need different or better abilities to start serving God. You need to take the abilities you already have and offer them to God for his use.
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Do not wait until you feel perfectly qualified or until your circumstances are ideal. God takes ordinary people with ordinary abilities and accomplishes extraordinary things through them. What you do with your abilities is your gift back to God.
Look back at your assessment above. Select the five abilities you rated "Love It" that most define who you are. If you rated fewer than five as "Love It," include your strongest "Like It" abilities as well.
Like Stacey in the lesson, think of some small things you can do for others every day to naturally express your love and serve using the abilities you love most.
1. How do abilities differ from spiritual gifts?
2. According to the lesson, what principle did Shamgar demonstrate?
3. What does "Love It" mean in the Love It / Like It / Live Without It system?
This week, take your top five abilities and look for one concrete way to use each one in service to someone else. Start small -- you don't need a grand platform. As Stacey discovered, God can use your abilities during any and every season of life. Share your top five abilities with a friend or mentor and ask them: "Do these match what you see in me? Can you think of ways I could use these abilities to serve others that I might not have considered?" Remember Shamgar's example: do what you can, with what you have, where you are. God will multiply your offering.