Spring is certainly one of my favorite times of the year for a variety of reasons. Not only are the flowers and trees blooming, the songbirds singing, and the spring peepers peeping, but the turkeys are gobbling as well! I’ve enjoyed some special times in the woods the last couple weeks chasing these elusive birds and am so thankful to have bagged two longbeards during the first week of the season. Since then, however, I haven’t heard a gobble.
At any rate, I’m still in the game as the season is in for two more weeks. Hopefully I can connect on another bird to limit out for the first time in my life. If I don’t however, I’ve enjoyed reading, praying, and writing poetry in the woods as I’ve waited for that strutting tom.
Even if I do manage to take a third gobbler, it’s unlikely he will top the one I got a few years back. That one sported 6 different beards and officially weighed in at 25 pounds, 10 ounces and placed 12th in the Virginia record book. I’m looking forward to getting him back from the taxidermist to show off God’s blessing.
In the process of getting this turkey mounted, I discovered that the head of the roosting turkey that is already hanging on my office wall was actually done by the same taxidermist in Highland County. Even though Bradley Patton mounted the body of that bird, he had another artist freeze dry, mount, and paint his turkey heads. Gobbler heads are notoriously difficult to get right and so he was able to utilize the skills of another taxidermist who had this ability.
My own father also took advantage of some other taxidermists who did better with certain animals. While dad mounted all his own mammals, later in his career when the workload had increased, he depended on some other artists to mount his birds and fish. He also did some custom work for other taxidermists as well thus enabling all of them to play to their own strengths while compensating for each other’s weaker areas.
Many businesses and industries subcontract certain tasks and jobs in order to focus on their own strong areas and maximize the finished product. Construction companies benefit from those with specialized skills in plumbing, electricity, carpentry, or HVAC. No one person can be good at everything so such arrangements result in better outcomes, happier workers and more satisfied customers.
Subcontracting and custom work are nothing new, however. In fact, such arrangements are actually God’s original idea. Throughout the Old Testament we read about certain individuals who were gifted in different areas. Bezalel and Oholiab, for example, were chosen to build the Hebrew Tabernacle because Exodus 31 tells us that God filled them with His Spirit, “…with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts — to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.”
After the Holy Spirit was given on the Day of Pentecost, Paul writes in I Corinthians 12 about the various spiritual gifts like wisdom, discernment, healing, prophecy, preaching, teaching, etc. He stresses in that passage that no one has all the gifts and that every member of the church body is needed because each can provide something that the other members cannot. No pastor, lay leader, or member possesses all the gifts, but when all work together and use what God has gifted them to do, the results, like with subcontracting, are much more satisfactory!
As we continue to enjoy the unfolding of the springtime and gobbling turkeys, may we ask God to help us know and use those skills and spiritual gifts that He’s entrusted to us that we might use them for His glory, the building up of His church, and the benefit of others. Spring blessings, George