Our gifts will often come naturally in our lives. Practice will sharpen and hone skills. To practice the gifts and talents that God has placed in our lives is to show Him we are good stewards of what He has given us. This is just as important as being a good steward of our finances. Our gifts and talents - and we all have them - are given to us to enable us to fulfill our role in the body of Christ.
Our gifts are not about us. They may fulfill us in countless ways. They may be useful tools to help us make a living and/or inspire others. They may even bring us attention, but they are not about us. The gifts we have inside of us are about what Jesus would have us do on this little planet HE loves so dearly, for His glory, not our own.
It is dishonoring to Him to want someone else's gifts and talents. It happens all the time... that insidious treachery... envy. We see someone else's gifts, perhaps the gifts that routinely gain attention and validation, and it can feel as if our own gifts are not as valuable because they aren't so public or so extroverted. And yet, that is insulting to God. It is insulting to look lowly upon our own gifts. Not all gifts are ones that gain attention or accumulate likes and shares on social media.
It sneaks up on us, this devaluing of our own talents and gifts. Perhaps it is the sin of this world that tells us that what is inside of us doesn't measure up to what others display. Maybe it is the wrong people in our lives have been allowed to be too loud in our minds, crowding out the voice of God that says the gifts He gave us are worthy and valuable and part of His plan. Perhaps it is our own view of the world, where we see that those squeaky wheels never seem to have enough grease, and instead of ignoring the sound, the world feeds the squeaky wheel continuously, forgetting that a little grease would help all the wheels. Encouragement is quite different than praise. Everyone needs encouragement occasionally.
Sometimes, we have to grease our own wheels. This isn't to say that we have to seek validation from others or be vain and self-serving. It simply means that neglecting to take care of the gifts inside of us is not being a good steward of God's gifts. Sometimes we call this self-care. Sometimes we call this being true to who we are.
I have been reading a book series to my eleven-year old daughter called The Penderwicks. The series' main characters are a group of four sisters; Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty (Elizabeth). These sisters are very different from each other. They have different personalities and different gifts. Being raised by a single father for the first part of the series (until he remarries), because their mother died from cancer, the girls are very close to each other. Their differences may bring about conflict occasionally, but they are each celebrated as the individuals they are, with their different gifts and talents. One talent isn't placed above another. The science and math loving Skye is very different from the creative, imaginative Jane. The leadership of the oldest, Rosalind, is not more or less than the musical Batty. In this way, this series for children sets an example where gifts differing is shown to be a beautiful thing to be celebrated.
I often feel that I am not certain how I feel about something until I write about it. The act of writing engages a part of my brain and heart that allows me to evaluate and put order to the chaotic ramblings that often occur in my mind. If I want to escape the world for awhile, I will read. If I want to make sense of my world, I will write. That has been true since I was a child, as the mountain of half-filled journals can attest.
I almost quit writing. It is like trying to quit breathing. I felt I was suffocating. So I would write, but not share any of it. I would write blog posts I never published. I would journal through my tears, as I dealt with difficult times and deep wounds. The truth is that writing is essential for me in processing life. I will always write, because that is how I am wired. It is also a means of expression that contains much rejection when shared publicly, as someone can always look at what is shared from the heart, even when shared with the best of intentions, and crush cruelly.
But God... right?
I pray I never do that... diminish someone else's gifts and talents because they differ from mine. I know that opinions vary, but I see a lot of people crushing others instead of building and encouraging them to use their gifts, to walk in them, humbly and for God, not for self-seeking motives. There isn't a limited supply of blessings that can only be doled out to a few. There isn't a small, measurable stash somewhere that says that if one person does well in an area, it takes away from us. That isn't how God works. When He is honored and glorified, He multiplies. This is why, as followers of Jesus, we never have to fight for position or live in envy as the rest of the world does on a normal basis. We can be secure that what God has given us, the gifts He bestowed on us and wants us to use to show His love in the world, He won't waste. There is a security in knowing that He has us and we are a part of His plan, from the circumstances we go through to the gifts He doles out. There is a plan.
A couple months ago on a Wednesday evening at church, my pastor handed out a test. After a couple jokes about being exposed to a pop-quiz, the results were comforting. It was a Spiritual Gifts Inventory. My pastor stated emphatically that, though the numbers of how big the gifts we have may change throughout our lives, depending on where we are and what we are dealing with at those times, the actual gifts will stay the same. My top three were knowledge, writing, and teaching. As a teacher, there are times when that gift has come front and center. When my curiosity is demanding answers, my love of research will kick in and add to my knowledge. And, as a natural extension of my being, I will write. I will write what I have learned. I will write what I feel. I will write to make sense of my world. I will write to calm my heart. I will write as a way to teach.
God has used a couple people to encourage me lately in delving deeper into my writing, to find ways to use what is inside me for His purposes. Building up others is tricky, because I want to come from a place of sincerity. No one needs false or fake anything, and I am terrible at portraying anything that isn't genuine. As I pray about how to use my gifts for this purpose, the weight of responsibility is sobering. Certainly, I am in the midst of many roles, and wish to balance them well. That isn't unique to any of us as we all have day planners filled with responsibilities. That doesn't mean that we are given a free pass from God when it comes to obedience and using well what He has placed in us.
The gifts inside of us may differ, but God has a purpose for each one. His purposes aren't trivial. They are essential to what He wants to do and achieve in this world before He comes back. When we don't utilize those gifts, or when we try to use gifts that have been placed in others, we hinder what God wants to do in our lives. Imagine if the church, meaning the group of believers that make up the body of Christ, was encouraged in discovering and helping the individual gifts of each believer and then they walked in those gifts for the glory of God. There would be no distinction for the Christian between secular and sacred, as we would be doing all for the Lord in every area of our lives.
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