Share
Your Gifts
“We are
each given different gifts and talents by [God]. The thing that
matters most is how we use what we have been given, not how much we
make or do compared to someone else. What matters is that we spend
ourselves.”
Francis
Chan
All summer the air has
been filled with the songs of Northern Mockingbirds. During the
nesting season, they begin singing about three in the morning, and
literally, sing all day and well into the night. The males without
mates sing nearly non-stop. Mockingbirds have sounds of their own,
and then they mimic the songs of other birds, and even the sounds of
frogs and other tree-dwellers. They continue to learn new sounds
throughout their lives. Mockingbirds are kind of dowdy in appearance;
small, slim, gray birds with a singular outstanding physical
characteristic—a white wing stripe. All their color is poured into
their ferocious singing. That is their gift and their talent.
Marguerite Gardiner, an
early 19th century Irish novelist and the Countess of
Blessington, wrote this: “Genius is the gold in the mine, talent
is the miner who works and brings it out.” All of us have
gifts. It may take a bit of work to develop the talent needed to
bring our gifts to the world. Most great musicians practice for hours
every day even though they are already accomplished. Artists are people who
get up and go to work, just like doctors and bankers. One of the ways
to discover exactly what gifts you've been given is to ask yourself,
“What do I love so much that I could do it everyday and never get
bored?” Then, figure out how you can share it.
People who do what they
love consider themselves happy. They are using their God-given gifts
to benefit themselves and others. I'm not naïve enough to think that
everyone can do what they love and make a living doing it—some of us
have to make a living and then do what we love. The important thing
is not earning money with our gifts and talents, though it's great
when that happens. Earning a living is absolutely necessary and we do
it in whatever way we can. But it's essential to give equal value to
doing what you love—make time for it. Here's what Robert Kennedy
said about sharing your gifts and talents: “In your hands lies
the future of your world, and the fulfillment of the best qualities
of your own spirit.”
I hope today you are able
to share your gifts. The world has need of them, and your heart will
be joyful in the process. Spend yourself!
In the Spirit,
Jane
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