My Strengths -- Spiritual Growth and Opportunities

Intellection, Strategic, and Input has fueled my study of Scripture and reading of many books. The way I tend to look at Scripture is a means to hear the voice of God for myself and others. And I approach nearly all books that same way – as means to hear from the Holy Spirit and learn of the world through His eyes, including sometimes the contrasts to the viewpoints that are in direct opposition to him. Of Intellection, the Strength Insight Report stated that you might consider yourself a great educator and I think that also means perhaps a good teacher.[1] Time will tell if this is the case as I am just getting started – but I do enjoy presenting things God is teaching me at monthly men’s breakfasts. Soon I will have the chance to share on Sunday mornings as well.

The Relator strength has fueled a desire to be in close relationship with other men and to be in accountability. I have sought this through friendship and more formal means (such as accountability groups) for the past 20+ years. Now I am stepping into a new opportunity to facilitate Living Free groups in my church, which is a type of Scripture-based recovery curriculum.

I have served on worship teams for quite awhile. The Strategic and Input strengths have allowed me to creatively contribute to the sound of the team. This is something that has been developed over the last 25 years playing acoustic guitar. I used to be just a one man band but about 15 years ago things changed and I found myself playing parts and doing things to amplify the sound of the team.

Responsibility has played a huge part in just being reliable in whatever capacity and role I serve. I am known for my steadiness, reliability, and faithfulness.

Coming alongside friends, supporting them, and walking with them through struggles and in their walk with Christ is something that gives me great joy. This is probably where I find my gifts of intellection, strategy, relator, and input combine to be a great friend. I am thinking this will naturally and spiritually lead me into counseling and a supportive pastoral ministry role.

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[1]CliftonStrengths, Strengths Insight Guide (GALLUP: 2000), 3.

Broken Separation

Written for a friend who's heart is hurting.

Broken
Lost
Where does the path lead now?
What do I do?
So many questions!

His heart hurts! Trust has been broken, broken, broken!!!
Marriage was sealed with Your promise
But has come unsealed by breaches in the promises that were made.

Hearts hurt, both afraid, both uncertain, both bruised.
Hearts have been hurt by both.
To the Healer, I bring these.

In the space
In the burning ashes of hurt and pain, bring solace.
Let the fire burn, the Refiner Fire.
In the separation, show them each truth.
What life will look like now.
If they seal the separate space.

Show these hearts truth
That cannot be unseen or unheard
Spirit convict, comfort, lead to righteousness.

Let mercy triumph over the judgement
That each feels is warranted.
Leave room for mercy, for the blood, for the Living Christ

To have the FINAL WORD

What Are Your Strengths (Part 2)

My StregthsFinder results showed that my top 5 strengths were: Intellection, Responsibility, Relator, Strategic, and Input.

These results differed somewhat from what I had determined from reading. I easily saw that I have Intellection and Relator as strengths.

I had considered Responsibility as one of my top 5 instead of Achiever. I am driven to complete things out of a sense of duty and because my word is my bond. It is not important how much I achieve, but that I am true to my promises and to my own integrity. Whereas the Achiever gets affirmation and almost a sense of completion by getting things done. I also feel the need to complete things because “it is not just about me.” The things I engage in and commit to often impact people beyond just myself, so there is a sense of obligation for the greater good. Like those who the text describes, I am utterly dependable.[1]

The other strengths I identified from reading were Learner and Belief. In hindsight, I can see how neither may be strengths. I am driven to learn about specific things of interest but not everything. And I would say that as I intellect (or think) about things and process them, I learn even more. While I am good at research, I don’t feel this need to collect and uncover every source of knowledge. I learn as a means to an end, it is not the end itself. For the learner, the process of learning and learning about everything is the focus and that is definitely not me.[2]

Belief was surprising, although I can see that as NOT being a strength also. My convictions hold me true to things and, again, I think that ties back more into responsibility. The intellection strength causes me to process and process until I am sure that I am sure about something. This is a way my faith (and thus my belief) is activated.

Strategic seems to fit me. When I listen to my friends process, I am usually able to pinpoint the vital things they are sharing that they may need to take action on. I am very much one like the text describes: playing out scenarios to see what will happen if I make this choice.[3] Although I think I do this more with others than myself. I strategize on a deeply unconscious level because I don’t normally project various scenarios based on choices I might make. Usually I can pretty quickly and easily see the vital things I need to do to get from point A to B to C.

The Input strength was a little surprising, but not completely. This speaks to how I function on teams: I am rarely the leader and like to function in supportive roles, offering helpfully input. Usually my input is very specific, probably because of because of strategy.

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[1] Don Clifton, StrengthsFinder 2.0 (New York: GALLUP PRESS, 2017), 149.

[2] Clifton, 133.

[3] Clifton, 165.

What are Your Strengths???

For Seminary this week, we read StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Neil Clifton. It describes the wonderful emphasis on identifying and catering to your strengths, instead of trying to improve or overcome your weaknesses.

The text lists 32 strengths. We were asked to identify our top five after reading the book (we will take the test next week, which will help to better identify actual strengths). I most identified with: Relator, Intellection, Achiever, Belief, and Learner.

Relator: Like those described in the book, I tend to have close, deep friendships, I derive great joy from being around my close friends, and I am very comfortable intimacy.[1] I tend to get to know people cautiously, but once I decide you are ok, I don’t hold anything back of who I am. Thus, the friendships I make tend to be pretty solid. As I have aged, I have gained some wisdom in vetting people to determine who I will take risks to open my heart to.

Intellection: I love and enjoy thinking about things! My mind is very active in thought and processes all day long. My journal and relationships are where I sort through my thoughts. Reading books is enjoyable but a challenge because my mind quickly identifies things to more deeply consider. My mental activity is both focused and unfocused.[2] It is very focused on consciously trying to tackle my own sanctification and reinforcing my walk with Christ; it is very unfocused in that I need help directing my thoughts and can easily think on different things at once, which means I can easily get spread too far and wide in thought.

Achiever: I can definitely relate (there’s a Relator word) to wanting to achieve every day. I organize my work and home life into tasks I need to complete. My lists of things to do each day usually aren’t over achievable and are definitely not long lists of 80-100 items.[3] Rather they are usually 3 or 4 things I know I need to get done at work. Then the same number when I get home. Once those things are done, I can enter into and enjoy space for rest, relaxation, and enjoyment.

Belief: Like the believers described in the text, I am highly spiritual and have high ethics for myself and others.[4] While I am not family oriented, my sense of belief really drives me to leave behind distractions and to pursue spirituality for the sake of greater intimacy with Christ. It has guided me to find work that meshes with my values.[5] Now my work demonstrates some of that, but the more important piece of belief is knowing (for certain) that God led me to be where I am now employed. His guidance is a key component of my strong belief.

Learner: For me, the process of learning is more enjoyable than getting to the end result.[6] I see this pattern in a lot of what I do. It may be hard for me to initially start something, but once I start – watch out! I get caught up in discovery and can lose myself in it! I am great at research, gathering information, or purchasing what is needed to accomplish a task or endeavor. Actually doing something or getting to the end is a letdown sometimes. This is one reason study (exegesis) of the Bible is, I think becoming more attractive to me.

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[1]Don., Clifton, StrengthsFinder 2.0 (New York: GALLUP PRESS, 2017),  

[2] Clifton, 129.

[3] Clifton, 37.

[4] Clifton, 57.

[5] Clifton, 57.

[6] Clifton, 133.