There Are No Small Parts

3 Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews. Esther 10

For never having really studied Esther before, digging into the book really leaves me with more questions than answers.  For starters, isn't the book named, "Esther?" Yet, in the last chapter, the title (at least for my version) is "The Greatness of Mordecai."  Mordecai is left with much of the glory, while Esther remains queen.  The last verse that talks about Esther is in the prior chapter, simply to state that she gave a decree confirming someone else's decree about Purim.

God has a plan for each of us.  We all have our parts to play and our involvement and our recognition will vary greatly.  The main story may not be focused on us (or rather, it may not be named after us), but we may have a crucial part involved with it.

We are all called to spread the gospel and share God's love.  Some people take this to mean that you have to go up to random strangers and talk with them.  A class my husband took in college at our church was focused exactly on that.  It gave people the tools so they could walk up to random people and have conversations about Jesus and what he did for them.  The very thought of walking up to a random person to talk about anything gives me sweaty palms.  However, there's a place for everyone.  I write these devotions on a weekly basis and publish them in three different places to extend to as many people as I can.  They're public, so we don't even need to know each other for someone to read them.  This is much more comfortable for me, and I feel that I'm much better at being able to write something slowly and delete (sometimes many times) rather than being put on the spot to think of things off the top of my head.  And my writings have led me to be able to talk with some of my close friends on an individual basis about my faith and to share more deeply with them God's love.

Everyone has been given different gifts for us to use to further God's plan. Some speak, some write, some act, and some do any number of other things.  The point I'm trying to make is that even though you may not be comfortable taking center stage, that's ok.  Find where you're comfortable and where God's leading you and use that for God's will.