Book #48

I needed some audiobooks for us to listen to on our recent drive to Utah.  I'd forgotten to place a request with our library so we searched the shelves in hopes of finding something worth listening to.  I came across a book called "About Average".  It was by Andrew Clements, a favorite author of ours.  We decided to try it.

There were differing opinions from the passengers in the car.  Jonathan didn't like it--probably because he wasn't a 12 year old girl.  The kids all like it--the girls more than the boys.  I liked it.  When I was a youth (and a little still now) I struggled with the same thing as the girl (Jordan) in the story--thinking I was average.  Everyone around me had visible talents--crafts, musical, dance, athletic, etc.--and I had a hard time seeing my talents.  Like Jordan I saw all the gifts of those around me and wished that I could be more like so-and-so.  The reader can see what Jordan can't see--that she has a lot of gifts and her gifts help others.  She is organized, fun, a good friend, and creative. 

Luckily for me, I had a "reader" in my life to see what I couldn't see.  Actually there are a lot of people who have helped me see the gifts that I have been blessed with.  Even though they aren't the kind that I used to dream of, they are gifts that I am thankful for.  I've recognized that we've all been given different gifts and talents to bless those around us.  If everyone were musically talented, who would sit and enjoy the music?  If we all were dancers, who would organize the performance?  I love the scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 14-20.  "For the body is not one member, but many./If the food shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?/And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?/If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?  If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?/But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath please him./And if they were all on member, where were the body?/But now are they many members, yet but one body."

Thank you to my parents, my leaders, my husband and my friends for showing me what I couldn't see.  I am not average.