It’s a Wrap
Today was errand day and there were many to run. Sitting in Von Maur waiting for a gift to be wrapped offered a little trip down memory lane to November of 2004 (don’t quote me, I may be off a year). On a complete whim, I applied to work in their Christmas gift wrapping department. I happened to be dressed in non-jeans that day and it seemed like a good idea. I got the job on the spot.
It seemed like a perfect fit. I love wrapping. I love helping people. I love gifts, even if they aren’t for or from me. I love the atmosphere of a shopping mall.
And then I started working with the rest of Santa’s helpers. Yes, even gift wrapping has a dark side.
I learned that to speed the process, multiple people wrap the gifts for each order in fairness to the motto – first come, first serve. This means that as you take a bag of gifts to your station, other workers begin to grab them to wrap and, hopefully, bring them back. There is a number system and checks and balances to assure all packages return to the correct location, but, well ….we are dealing with humans here.
Invariably, at some point each shift, we were digging through orders and tickets searching for a stray. While I found this incredibly stressful, most of the elves seemed to not even notice we had a problem.
I sense that if we ran a Myers Briggs personality test on typical seasonal gift wrappers, we would find most of them nestled in the quadrant with characteristics that I would NEVER nod my head and say, “Oh yeah, that’s me.”
But there is no hope for control freaks in the arena of seasonal gift wrap. You just have to adapt to the quirks and personalities of all, and pray that every gift ends up in the right bag. It kind of works that way in the kingdom of God, too.
All God’s people coming together for a common goal is not necessarily going to be smooth sailing. Each will be coming from his own personality quadrant (or, as in my case, the two polar opposite quadrants that fight for dominance). Then we drag in our drama, our moods, and our perspectives.
As we move toward a common goal, there seems to be plenty of opportunity for stress and upheaval and sometimes it is tempting to grab the ministry bag and head off for a solo performance. But I don’t think God is as interested in the final package as He is the work He does in US as we learn to work together.
To each He has given different gifts, but all from the same Spirit, so that we all, in working together, can build up the Body and bring Him glory and honor. We can rest in knowing that He is in control!