This morning, within about three minutes, child number four walked into the kitchen and said, "It smells like kettle corn."
A minute later, child 6 walked in and said, "It smells like raw meat."
Then came child number 3 who said, "I smell burned popcorn."
Child number 5 came in and said, "What smells like caramel sauce?"
Standing at the kitchen sink I smiled at how differently their noses worked. Then I just had to announce my own thoughts, "Well, I smell soy sauce."
Who was right? All of us. I made caramel corn for church this morning and burned some of the kernels. I also was in the process of making a soy sauce-based marinade for the meat we would be having for dinner.
It made me think, again, how all of us notice different things in life. Just because one smells popcorn and another smells soy sauce at the same time doesn't mean the other person is wrong. We're just wired different and pick up on different things.
In life, two people can see the same incident and each notice very different things. One may notice someone's grief, another may notice someone's need, while another may key in on someone's ability.
I love what we can learn from Paul's letter to the Corinthians.
"For the body is not one member, but many.
If the foot shal say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
"And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body is it therefore not of the body?"
These verses tells us we should not voice our own self-doubt and think we are not important because we can't do things others can!
Paul goes on to elaborate more when he says, "And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you."
We are also not to fall into the trap of self-importance and undervalue the help and abilities of others.
"But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him....that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another."
Family members all have different abilities they bring to the home and each of those different abilities is, in its own way, a gift. And each gift would be missed if it was lost.
