Do you know your assignment?
The Birth Order book by Kevin Leman states that the order in which you are born, determines a lot of your personality and impacts how you move about in the world.
Here is a summary as posted about his book:
“Firstborn? Only child? Middle child? Baby of the family? Find out what it means to you, your relationships, and your career. Do you realize that of the first 23 astronauts in space, 21 were firstborns and the other 2 were only children in their family……”
Now this is not the hard and fast ‘for sure’ rule in every family, but more often than not, the labels kind of makes sense.
Firstborns are known to be people pleasers, rule followers, take charge kind of people, often called “bossy” and it turns out they make great bosses. They have a sense of responsibility, are conscientious, and reliable, they tend to be leaders. People look up to them. They can often have really high expectations of themselves and others, after all their parents had high expectations of them. A flaw is that they often have too many projects and responsibilities on the go, learning the word “no” is vital for a first born.
Middle children often tend to get sympathy because of their spot in the family because people think they get ignored. But it has been noted that middle children often have better “life” training because of their spot. They have learned to negotiate, mediate and become peace makers. A flaw can be that middle children never feel they are “listened to” and aim to make themselves heard or withdraw because they feel no one will listen anyways.
Babies of the family are often the best salespeople because they have learned the art of figuring out how to get what they want, to work around the rest of the family. Comedians are often the babies of the family. A flaw could be that they shirk responsibility and pass the buck and blame instead of taking responsibility for themselves. The babies are often deemed the “favorite” child by the other kids in their family because they see the babies as not having to “work so hard” to get their way.
This is only a small fraction of the some of the things the book tells us about our birth order – it is quite fascinating to learn more about how our families of origin function, a good read. These are legitimate skills you have learned organically by being in a family. Learning how to use them properly is a not a bad idea.
What about your place in God’s family? In God’s army? Do you know what position you are?
If you are in the family of God – you will also fit into one of the categories: firstborn, only child, middle or babies of the family. Those same skills can be used in this family as well.
How about the army of God? Have you ever considered that you are in an army? Remember singing that kids song: “I’m in the Lords Army?” or “Onward Christian Soldiers”?
Ask God where He sees you in His army? Private, Sniper, Scout, Leader, Commander, Calvary, Medic, Stretcher Bearer, Chaplin. What part do you serve? Each part is vital.
I am a stretcher bearer. These are the people who are called to an accident scene, for broken and hurting people, the ambulance comes after the 1st responders and does immediate first aid and stabilizes the person for transport to someone else who can help them.
This means that I am often early to arrive on a scene of a broken heart, a broken home, a situation that is unstable. I have come to learn that I am not the long-term person, but rather a conduit to God and other people who can stay for the long term. It is not that I do not wish to be a long-term person, but God has very clearly made it clear to me, that this is my position.
No matter what position you have been given, it is up to you to learn your position and become water bearers – those people who have been in the fire and return for those who are still in it. You may have to scout out the situation, you may have to get information, you may have to go and make a visit. God will give you direction on these matters.
But your first order is always to pray, no matter what part of position you play. Prayer always changes things, prayer always gets answered, not always the way we want, but God hears every prayer. Often we think of prayer as a last resort, but prayer truly is the hard work of every believer and it should be our first thought, not the last.
When you are on a plane, at the start of every trip, they give you the little speech about safety and the air mask that could possibly drop down in front of you if the situation occurs. They tell you to “first put on your own mask, before you start to help others.”
If you do not take care of yourself first, you could pass out from lack of oxygen and then you would be no help to others around you. Consider prayer as oxygen.
While we were in Dawson Creek today, the highway was blocked and police cars lined the roadway, officers and firemen, the 1st responders were out and we were not sure what was going on. Of course we tried to find out…. But initially we could not get close.
On our way out of town, the road was open and I looked over to see a dead moose right beside the main highway through downtown Dawson Creek. It became evident that a moose had been causing the havoc in town earlier. I have no idea if the moose was hit by a car or truck or if they had to put the animal down, but this very large animal was not a threat any longer. I considered that they had the downtown area on lock down because there was a danger to everyone, with a hurt or scared moose wandering around. Officers had to take care of the surrounding area while subduing the moose so that others would not be hurt in the process.
A wounded animal and a wounded person often come out fighting while trying to survive. That poor moose was probably so scared and did not recognize that the people could help him, he just wanted to go home. The moose had no idea what to do, where to run, the officers had to make sure of their own safety and those of others around them.
Sometimes we have to make sure of our own safety before we start to help others. If we will be harmed in the process, how can we benefit other people? That is why an army is necessary: 1st responders, stretcher bearer, medical attention, physio, counselling until total healing takes place. Working together is the only way we can take care of ourselves and each other because as in today’s scenario, teamwork was necessary to take care of the whole downtown core. We work as a team, in a family and in the army, this takes the pressure off of one person and we share the load – ideally that is how it is supposed to work. It is not always in the case, as in an “only child” scenario, no team back up. That does not mean help is not there because if you belong to the family of God there are many to call upon and reach out to.
The trick is not to get “stuck” in your label, thinking this is the “only” thing you can do or be. God places no limits on you, He says you have available to you the power that raised Jesus from the dead, with the Holy Spirit. You place limits on you, God does not.
How wise was God to institute the family, the place where you could learn skills naturally that would benefit you and others for life?
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