Monsters University ~ What is Your Gift?

Monsters University ~ What is Your Gift? 

In Monsters U Mike and Sulley are in collage, in fact they are going to Monsters University. This is where they meet and at first don’t like each other.

Mike wants to be a “Scarer” (a monster that scares kids for their screams to create the energy to run the Monster World). He does not want to be relegated to the background of “Can Design” or “Door Making”. He has dreamed all his life of going to school and being the best Scarer. He truly is not scary at all. He has the knowledge but lacks the ability.

Sulley is lazy and inattentive. He thinks that just because he is big, imposing and the son of one of the best scarrers he will be the best scarer ever. He thinks he does not need to study and that he knows all he needs to know to be the best scarer ever. He goes half way and does not work to improve himself. He has the ability but lacks knowledge and discipline.

Then there is the Oozma Kappa fraternity, a group of misfits that look like they can do nothing big or special. They have all been told they are incapable, unwanted and worthless. They lack knowledge because they have not been allowed to learn, no one would teach them. They lack courage to try because they have been pushed down. They lack ability because they have never tried. In truth they don’t lack ability they just don’t know what abilities they really have.

Mike refuses to give up his idea of being a scarer. Sulley refuses to study and learn there is more to doing what he is born to do. The brothers of Oozma Kappa just keep trying yet feel like they don’t fit.

In the end Mike learns he is not a scarer, he is a “Coach”. He has the knowledge to give training and direction but lacks the ability to do it himself. Sulley sees he has been a jerk and chooses to let Mike teach him. The brothers of Oozma Kappa get their chance to go to Scare School and see that even they can be more than they think they could.

I Corinthians 12:12-30

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 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. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not the hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being a part of the body. 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 a part of the body. 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? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. and God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire these greater gifts.

My husband was told he could not be a mime in High School. His drama teacher said he did not have the ability. He was told by his High School Guidance Counselor that because he is ADHD, even with an IQ in the genius range, “You will be good for nothing but picking up trash and pushing a broom.” He was near completing his education to be ordained as a minister when his father, an ordained minister told him he did not have the ability to teach or speak well. In short he was told he was not good at public speaking. He was very close to being ordained when this happened.

My husband took classes in mime at college and was told he could be one of the best with some focused work on some things. He chose to leave this for a “safer day job”. His day job is Respiratory Therapy. He is hands on patient care and part of the medical team saving lives. It takes knowledge and the ability to think things through to do his job. Janitorial work is important. Without custodians people would have a hard time doing their jobs. But that was not the job for my guy. As for being ordained, he feels ordained into the bedside ministry caring for the sick, elderly and neglected. He is there to give comfort as well as medical care. He is also an educator at the hospital he works at. He teaches patients how to care for themselves and mitigate the problems caused by their health problems. He educates fellow staff members on policies, procedures, safety and new computer programs. He is very good at public speaking and teaching.

We are not all Pastors, Missionaries, Sunday School Teachers or meant to be in leadership at a church. Some of us are there to help set up chairs, usher and just silently pray for others. Be happy where God has placed you with the abilities He has given you. Work at improving them, trusting those that have more knowledge and wisdom to guide you. Let God place you in the Body of Christ and choose where you are. Be happy where He places you and do the best you can.