Salad Servers

Colossians 4:17 (NIV)

"See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord.”

I bought a small pair of salad servers. I have two other larger pairs, but I needed a small pair. It’s much easier to do something with the right size tools and you need the right tools for each job you have to do. Whether it’s kitchen tools or garden tools, it doesn’t matter. When you use the right tools for the job you can accomplish what you need.

At the moment I’m thinking about my small salad servers. At first, I thought they were crystal. When I sent a picture of them to someone, she thought they were plastic! Do you know what? They’re actually glass.

These salad servers wouldn’t be everyone’s pick. They’re vintage, and at one point in my life I wouldn’t have chosen them. I would have indulged myself in the most glamourous things I could find. Statement pieces.

Now-a-days, I don’t mind worn, pre-loved things that still have life in them and don’t cost me a sacrifice. I’m still particular and I still like to admire pretty things. But, I like things that tell a story. I don't enjoy so much generic things that anyone can pick up in any store. Some people like that. Never been used. Other people like extremely practical things that will be affordable and unbreakable, and who cares what they look like? For me, I like to personalise things. Part of what I enjoy is uniqueness.

Inside, where it counts, we’re all a bit like that about ourselves. We want to know we’re unique. We want to know that we have a story to share which can be treasured; and it can be painful when we feel used up, beat up, and worn down.

But it’s all in the perspective, isn’t it?

Take the background I’ve placed my salad servers on, here. They look different on this background than the darker background, above. On a paler background, they blend in more because they’re already transparent. You may not even notice them much. We feel like that sometimes – passed by, unnoticed, under-valued – but we’re still there. And we’re still the same.

We may feel like glass – maybe a bit breakable; decent but not as valuable as crystal. Someone else may think we’re like crystal because they can see our value. Or less kindly, others may label us ‘plastic’.

We are, in fact, a tool for a purpose, that God’s created and now chosen, for a reason.

That’s why He created us in a very particular way. We may try and look like crystal when we’re only glass. We may seem plastic at times, but maybe that comes from how worn we’ve become from the world around us, from other people’s rub, or our own experiences.

God wants us to recognise who He created us to be. He wants us to recognise and embrace our original, authentic self.

Being and doing what God has chosen for us is the greatest way to feel whole, fulfilled, complete, purposeful and treasured. It’s the only way we will achieve without feeling insecure, breakable, or striving to be recognised.

Let me encourage you right now. Be the salad servers God has created you to be because He’s the one who designed you for that purpose. Embrace the material God’s placed in your hands. He will be able to bless the work of your hands and feed people with the salads that only you can toss up.

When we embrace who He has created us to be, and use what He has put in our hands, we can embrace His greatness in us. He is able to do more in our lives than what we can ever imagine possible.

Deuteronomy 28:12 (NASB)

The LORD will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless every work of your hand…

My prayer for you is that you'll embrace the special creation God's made you and the specific purpose that God's equipped you for. I pray the Lord opens up His good storehouse over you, gives rain to your land in its season. I pray that as you use the tools He's placed in your hands, that He will bless your mind and the work of your hands to fulfill His will for your life.