Just Different

"A few more days," said Miles, "and we can watch the best ball game of the year!" He picked up the football he'd gotten for Christmas. "The next best thing to playing football is watching the Rose Bowl game!""Huh!" scoffed his sister Heidi. "The best thing about football is that the season's almost over." She picked up her new tennis racquet and some fuzzy green balls. "Now this is much better. Way better than your funny-shaped football!"Mom spoke up. "Well, I think my new bowling ball is the best. It's big and beautiful, and it's going to knock down a lot of bowling pins!""It's big all right," said Dad. "But if you want to see beauty, you need to take a look at my golf balls." Glancing around at his family, Dad grinned. "Whoever thought buying everybody sports equipment for Christmas would start a family feud?""Well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree," Mom said, smiling. "Better yet, let's agree that everybody's sport is great. Tennis balls or golf balls, bowling balls or footballs--no one kind is better than the others. They're just all different. Each is designed to do the best job possible for its own sport.""That's true," said Heidi. "You wouldn't knock many bowling pins over with my tennis balls.""No," said Miles. "And I can just imagine you trying to play tennis with Dad's golf balls while he plays golf with my football."Heidi laughed. "And you trying to play football with Mom's bowling ball--that would be funniest of all!""You know," said Dad, "that's the way it is with people too. We all have different abilities. Some people can sing or speak well. Others are good with kids or at building things. Some are good in science or sports or math. But that doesn't make one person better than another. Just like it's unfair to compare a tennis ball to a bowling ball, it's unfair to compare people to one another." Mom nodded. "God gave all of us different talents and abilities, and each one of us is special and loved by Him. We don't need to compare our abilities to anyone else's. Instead, we can trust Him to help us use the gifts He's given us to show others His love and point people to Him." – Hazel W. Marett