Being the Base

I always hated being the "base."  


If you were ever a cheerleader you will know what I am talking about.  The base is the girl who throws the other girls in the air.  The base is the strong cheerleader who holds the other girls up in the air.  


But in my warped mind, base = biggest, fattest, heaviest cheerleader.  


You know those woman who are just teeny tiny?  The 90-pounders.  The ones God created to be tiny.  I was never one of those girls but always wanted to be.  I never longed to be tall.  I liked being short, but I always wanted to be miniature too.  


As I brought this subject up to my dear friend Kelli, a fellow cheerleader from the past, she couldn't believe I would have ever felt that way!  Being a base meant you were STRONG!  She said to me, you were a great base! 


So, I looked up on dictionary.com the definition of base.  "The bottom support of anything that which a thing stands or rests." 


Hmmmmmm.


That definition didn't say base: someone really fat and worthless. 


I was the support of the 90-pounders!  They depended on me to keep them safe and catch them when they fell!  They put their trust in me to hold them in the air!  


If all the cheerleaders in high school were built the same way with the same talents, there would be no pyramids, no basket tosses, no liberties!  How boring would that be? 


Same goes for us as believers in the body of Christ.  It takes all of us with all our special talents.  I love these verses from Romans 12: 


 ⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your^[a] faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,^[b]do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.


Embrace yourself the way God made you - mind, body and soul.