oh... the fragrance of a star jasmine

Years ago a dear friend of mine gave me some cuttings from her climbing jasmine.  I planted them immediately and to my surprise, they took off and smelled incredible.  When we moved from Bixby to Atlanta a few years later, I bought the same plant to remind me of the fragrance we left behind.

Here we are 15 years later with an absolutely gorgeous display of scent and sensational growth.  

As I was pondering this beautiful scene, I noticed how abundantly my jasmine has grown, simply because it is supported by the whole side of our deck staircase.  The vines trail up two stories reaching for the sun with the assistance of a sturdy foundation to aide and assist.  Much like how our Body of Believers is supposed to function, this principle was not lost on me.

When we recognize the gifts of the Spirit in each other, give room for their use and support their function without envy or criticism, the result is magnificent.  

We are not all alike.  We are not all gifted alike.  We each have a unique contribution to the Body and we should support our differences as long as we are speaking the same biblical truth leading to the same end.  Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

Our Messiah displayed all gifts of the Spirit throughout His ministry yet most people only concentrate on a select few.  Probably those few are the very ones they see in themselves; certainly I am guilty of this.  But what we should be keenly aware of is how our Father is building a beautiful temple with each and every one of us who are part of that ministry.  

Celebrating His plan and supporting each other along the way has the potential to make the greatest and most spectacular impact on the world just like my jasmine does every year.  If only you could smell what I smell when I walk outside my house!

1 Cor 12:12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.