Spear, Pluck, Plunge: Why God Gives Each of Us Different Gifts

The post begins with three birds that fish in different ways: the great blue heron spears its catch with a long beak, the bald eagle plucks fish from the water after spotting them from far away, and the osprey plunges in feet first and grips its prey with its talons. The author sees in these birds a lesson about gifts, noting that each species has its own skill for reaching the same goal of catching fish, and that none of them seems to envy the others or doubt the abilities it was given.

The author then turns the observation toward people. Most readers, the post suggests, have at some point asked why God has not used them the way He uses someone else, or why they lack another person’s gift. To illustrate how easily this happens, the author recalls the moment in John 21 when Jesus gives Peter a personal charge about feeding His sheep and even speaks of the way Peter will die. Instead of focusing on that calling, Peter asks about John. The author finds this both sad and a little comical, and admits that the same distraction often shows up in our own lives.

Drawing on Paul’s teaching about the body and on a verse from Moroni, the post affirms that members of the body of Christ receive different gifts according to God’s grace. Some people lead, some create, some make music, and some analyze, and the author argues that these abilities can serve the Church just as spiritual gifts such as healing or prophecy do. The central message is that God made each bird for its own purpose and that people, likewise, are given gifts to honor God and help bring others to Him, so there is no need to envy the gifts of someone else.

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