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Rachel and Kaitlyn on their birthday bikes.
Rachel and Kaitlyn were born on the same day, of the same parents, raised in the same environment; yet as you can see - on their birthday bikes, at three years of age, they are as different as different can be.
Even the most cursory look at the work of the Creator, gives evidence of God’s delight in diversity. No two snowflakes are alike, no two any things are exactly alike – not people, trees, stars, rocks, flowers or animals. Each is distinctive and each is needed to be just what it is. In her article on talents for living in community, Melannie Svoboda SND makes this observation:
. . . if we asked God, “What’s your favorite flower?” God would not say the rose or the orchid or the daffodil. God would say, “Bouquet!”
Sometimes community, family or society tries to reduce our individuality to a least common denominator. We make the mistake of thinking that unity is found in uniformity. Nothing could be further from the truth, or from God’s plan, or the instincts of nature.
Think of the moment of your coming into being – one ovum was released among about 400,000 to meet one sperm among 400 million! And the result was YOU. Any other would have resulted in a different person, not you; but it is you who were born; it is YOU who God treasures; it is YOU who is needed to contribute your unique gifts to the community where you find your home. If you do not bring your unique gifts, it will not happen because no one else has them exactly like you.
So the sixth talent for living in community is the talent for being who you are! Are you a good listener, speaker; are you sensitive and able to derive pleasure from the simple things in life; are you able to stick to the task at hand? All of these are talents for living in community that have been previously featured in this series. Be who you are . . . is today’s talent for living in community.
Meanwhile, like Kaitlyn and Rachel, you are the only one of you we have; there is no other. And YOU are just the one we need.
by: Sister Mary Navarre, OP - Leadership Team Member || Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids
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