During worship at church this past week, I was (surprise, surprise) praying! I was talking to God about the different areas of my life and one of the prayers that came out of my mouth was that God would use every area of my life to point to His reality and His goodness.
As those words flowed, a series of pictures and thoughts entered my mind of the Plains Indians and the American Bison. I was reminded of how crucial the American Bison was to the existence and survival of the Plains Indians. For example, the Lakota people would follow the migratory patterns of the bison as the bison provided nearly all of the their needs for food, shelter, weapons and leisure. The horns were fashioned into spoons and cups. The tanned hide was used for tepees and clothing. The tail became a fly whip. Bones were carved into knives, arrowheads and game dice. Even the parts that, to us, are seen as disgusting were utilized. Feces, for instance, were used as fire fuel. There wasn’t one part of the bison that couldn’t or wouldn’t be used. Absolutely, nothing went to waste.
As I thought about this, I felt like God brought the pictures and thoughts to mind to reveal how He desires to use our lives. Of course, He’s not going to kill us and use us for His survival. But I do think that, similar to how every aspect of the bison was used to bring life to the Plains Indians, I think God will use every area of our lives to bring life to others. God will absolutely use our strengths, talents and gifts. Conversely, He will also use our weaknesses, failures and, even further, the things that we see as disgusting or shameful. He will use every part of our lives — the good, the bad and the ugly — to reveal His reality and His goodness to others. That may be millions of people or just one person. That doesn’t really matter. What matters is that God doesn’t waste anything.
I think we all want to be used by God to make a difference in this world. All we need to do is take the first step. The same first step I took in church on Sunday. It starts with a prayer. Lord, use every area of my life to point to you.
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Photo by Chloe Leis on Unsplash
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