The Stricker Post: What is Your Gift?

Since the birth of my children I've prayed that God would clearly show me my children's strengths. From the time Brett was old enough to find things he was mesmerized with bugs. He went through the usual phases of cars, trucks, trains, and then there was a very strong love of keys. I still find keys all over the house as people would gift him old keys and he would carry them around with him. I remember a story when I was house sitting for a friend. She gave me her spare key and I set it in my console. Somehow Brett spotted it and I later found it in my bed where he had carried it inside and dropped it between my mattress and footboard. Luckily my friend is kind and loves my son.

Very early on I began to see a love affair with lizards. At his Mother's Day Out when he was about fifteen months old he would grab lizards for his teachers. They were harmless Anole lizards, but he loved these lizards. We also had a very wet year in Boerne and when my husband would mow the law there were baby frogs jumping every direction. Brett would follow the mower with a basket and collect all the frogs. He was fifteen months old. I should've clued in that this boy is a nature lover.

I continued to pray that God would show me his strengths because it was obvious that his weakness was his strong will. Clearly he got his strong will from his father!! I didn't realize how obvious it was that this child loved nature until I began to flip through my photographs. I included a bunch of photos from November 2011 through now of Brett's friends. Some have gone on to their appropriate heavens and others have returned to the wild. I included captions for the photos that seemed confusing.

I continue to pray for my children and ask God to please make them in his image. Although Brett is very much a human, he has such a loving heart toward all of God's creatures great and small. Today at practice he approached his friend's mom and told her, "Your son killed a spider today." He was looking up at her with sad eyes. She smiled and said, "He knows that lots of the teachers are scared of them." She knew there was no way he would understand the rationale except to ruffle his natural protecter instincts. His face changed as he realized the heroic efforts that his friend had taken, but you could see the wheels turning in his head. He would not take such heroic efforts unless he actually witnessed one of these beautiful creatures truly terrorizing his loved ones.

It is amazing how God crafts us into such unique and special beings. Even twins are different. We are each uniquely created and handcrafted. What a joy it is to witness the exclusive gifts growing in our children. Take a walk backwards through my photo album below from the last year and you too can catch a glimpse of the obviousness of God's gifting in Brett's life. What is your gift?

I found a nice neutral location to take a spiritual gifting quiz. Click here.