Daily Devotional for September 24, 2018
Not All Potatoes
Julia pedaled her bike slowly down the road to her grandpa’s house and found him working in his garden. He looked up with a smile. “How’s my Julia today?” Julia felt tears well up in her eyes as she walked over to where Grandpa was weeding. “What’s wrong, honey?” Grandpa asked.
“I can’t do anything as well as my sisters,” Julia replied.
Grandpa put his arm around Julia’s shoulder. “Oh, I’m sure that’s not true. They’re good at some things, and you’re good at others.”
“But Annalise always makes straight A’s. I studied as hard as I could for my English test, but I barely passed,” Julia said sadly. “Willow always makes good grades too, and she’s a super good softball player. I struck out twice today.”
“Maybe you’re so busy trying to be like your sisters that you don’t appreciate the things you do well yourself.” Grandpa pointed to his garden. “Do you see these carrots and potatoes and beans?”
Julia nodded. “Sure,” she said. “I like them all.”
“Me too. They make great vegetable soup. But what if all the vegetables in my garden decided they wanted to be potatoes?”
Julia laughed. “That couldn’t happen, but if it did, you’d have to make potato soup.”
“Yes, and potato soup is good, but what I really like is the taste of all the different vegetables in my soup.” Grandpa smiled at Julia. “I think we sometimes forget we’re not all meant to be potatoes. Just like God gives each vegetable a different taste, He gives each of His children different gifts. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, we need to use the gifts He’s given us to share His love with others and bring Him glory.”
“So does that mean I shouldn’t worry about grades?” asked Julia.
“Well, you should study hard and try to make good grades, and you should do your best at sports or whatever else you try to do,” Grandpa replied. “But you should also ask God to show you the special talents He’s given you. Ask Him to help you use them to serve Him. After all, the world would be a pretty boring place if all of us were potatoes.”
“Yeah.” Julia grinned. “Or if we were all carrots—or peas!” – Karen E. Cogan
How about you?
Did you know that God has given you special talents? He’s given all of us—including you—special gifts to use so we can serve Him and share His love with others. It may be in music, art, the ability to entertain younger kids, or any number of things, and yours will probably be different from those of your friends and family. Serve God with whatever talents He’s given you.
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