"I don't know why I was even born," the young sailor confided! "I'm ugly. I'm not talented. I've never been what you would call smart. I don't really have any friends. And I can't seem to do anything right. I feel like I've spent my whole life letting people down. Sometimes I wonder if even God could love me!"

That conversation took place more than a decade ago, but I still remember it as if it were yesterday. That one and a lot of others over the years with the same message: "I'm no good; I'm just another loser."

Unfortunately, our society places a great premium on looking good, being popular, and being the best -- or at least being "special." Those who don't quite measure up often feel like that young sailor. Sometimes a person can spend his or her whole life trying to earn acceptance, and still end up an outsider. ... Sometimes even when others really DO care for them and want them to be part of the group! Maybe you have felt that way at times. If not, it's probable that someone you know has... or does.

Nearly two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul described how God has made each of us special, given each person a unique combination of "gifts". It was an important message. It must have been. His letters preserve three different variations on that theme, written to three different communities. (You can read his comments in Romans 12, I Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4.) A more recent author phrased it this way:

"You Have A Special Message To Deliver"

There is an old Jewish-Christian tradition which says:
God sends each person into this world
With a special message to deliver,
With a special song to sing for others,
With an act of love to bestow.

No one else can speak my message,
Or sing my song, or offer my act of love,
These are entrusted only to me.
According to this tradition,
The message may be spoken,
The song sung, the act of love delivered
Only to a few, or to all the folk in a small town,
Or to all the people in a large city,
Or even to all those in the whole world.

It all depends on God's unique plan for each person.
To which we might add:
The greatest gift of God, one would think,
Is the gift of life.
The greatest sin of humans, it would seem,
Would be to return that gift,
Ungrateful and unopened. Anonymous