Mary G Bruno

After my husband puts Bella down for the night and when he isn’t falling asleep (because that’s what usually happens when he finally sits down), we watch our TV shows together. Some of our favorites are The Voice, Shark Tank, World of Dance, America’s Got Talent, etc. We like non-reality shows too, but these are easy to wind down to. Between the two of us, I’m the real professional TV show watcher. Chris is a rare breed who when not working finds his peace and relaxation through building things; projects that involve some type of wood and tools. Lots of manly tools. That make noise (thus the falling asleep when he sits down). My brain requires mindless relaxation through TV story time to wind down. Frequently. With coffee. The coffee thing is new for me. I didn’t start drinking it regularly until only a couple of months ago because one little detail about it held me back: it tastes like coffee. But with enough flavored creamer and sugar in it, you can get that coffee taste out and it actually tastes kind of good. It can even wake you up and give you a boost of energy. Who knew?

I don’t need the help waking up as much as my husband. For good reason even without his strange method of relaxing (he wakes up at what I call the middle of the night to go to work), it makes perfect sense that he is tired. But even when living tired, it is incredible to see what one can accomplish when allowing our God-given gifts to reach their fullest potential. Jennifer Fulwiler gives the most amazing explanation of this phenomenon in her book “One Beautiful Dream.” Have I read the book? No. That would require reading, and like drinking coffee requires tasting coffee (until I get my hands on it!), reading requires… well, reading. But at the Abide Women’s Conference I heard her give a fascinating talk that was based on this book and it rocked my world. She refers to these unique gifts God gives us as our “blue flame.” It is that thing that we LOVE to do and keeps our fire burning; it actually gives us energy! It is something that we could easily get lost in, doing it for hours without feeling time pass. The coolest part is that many times we don’t even realize what our gifts are or how good we are at performing said task because we assume that anyone could do it. But not anyone can do what God gifted you the ability to do. He has designed us each very specifically with abilities, our own little super powers, to serve a purpose- to make the world better and point us all back towards Him.

1 Corinthians 12:12, 18-21, 27: “27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.”

I look at the pieces Chris creates with his hands and am often amazed; speechless. He might disagree, but I think the process begins in his heart. He identifies a need in our home (inside or outside) and desires to not only bring that to life, but to make it beautiful, with quality deserving of the people it will serve. His heart then delivers the ideas to his brain, which transforms them into plans. This is where the real impressive handiwork begins- before he even lifts a finger. His brain is able to compute numbers and angles in a way that is foreign to me. When addressed with the same numbers and angles, my brain would just stare at a wall or pass out. But God was very generous when creating Chris, giving him these abilities in abundance, allowing him to perform almost any task he is able to dream up, from his heart to his mind to his hands to our home. One of the many beauties of this situation is that although building, etc. brings him great joy, Chris doesn’t do these things for himself. He wants to provide what is best for us and every other person we welcome into our home, hoping it will be many! He is also very generous in helping others with his abilities, sprinkling his gifts out into the world and allowing God to work through them. We don’t have to realize this is happening in order for God to work through us in these creative ways. We just have to be open and use the gifts He gives us. Just like Fulwiler predicted, I suspect Chris is unaware of his talent. About a week ago after getting lost in the beauty of something he created for our home, I said to him “You did a really amazing job. Do you know how talented and gifted you are?” He replied “Nah, anybody could do that- if they did some research…” After I stuck my eyeballs back into my head and picked my jaw up off the floor, I delighted in the abilities of God and in how generous He is to share some of His super powers with us, including us mere humans in the ongoing construction of a captivating world.

But we have to open our eyes and step into our power suits. We have to say yes to Him and be brave and bold enough to see His beauty within ourselves to unlock our potential- exactly what we witness as we watch hundreds of inspired, determined, and incredibly gifted humans do on TV shows like The Voice, Shark Tank, World of Dance, Project Runway, American Idol, and more. Here we see the human spirit soar as it fights against adversity, takes hold of its super powers, and dares to sprinkle some of God’s talent into the world. Although it is very good to use our gifts, balance is also very important. We have to be in constant discernment regarding priorities and time spent on various endeavors as we flex our super muscles. But what fuels us? What holds us back? What pushes us over the edge so that we can begin to fly? Stay tuned for part 2 as I reveal what I believe to be our super power sidekicks…