Your Talent

What are we to do? Are we to believe that God actually has a plan for us, that He gave us talents that can be used for His glory, and that He will give us a path to use those talents? Those are questions that every human asks at some point and some way in life. Be they Christian or not, they wonder in their own manner what it is that they are truly supposed to do on earth, and what it is they can contribute that is special or unique. More so, they ask themselves if there is actually anything special that they can give. For the Christian, this question becomes all the more personal. For there is no doubt that God has created us, and with that creation, has given us special talents and abilities that we can use to glorify Him. They may not be as bold and unique as talents to hold world records or stand apart in the eyes of man. But they are talents nonetheless, and they are talents that He expects us to use. Make no mistake, God does not need us in any way to complete the work which He desires to do. And that is all the more of a blessing, because it shows us that he has allowed us, through Grace, to work with Him, to glorify Him, to completely share in that which He desires. So what of our talents? Does He really want us to use them? What if we don't seem to be in a position to use them? Each of us was created, no matter size, strength or level of intellect, with something that can be used to glorify God. Call it a trait, a talent, or an ability, it is unique to us. I have met men and women who have the highest levels of education or strength that one would point to as obvious possessors of talent. But I have also been with those that the world looks on as inept, incapable, and useless. There is no doubt that in them there is something that can glorify God. I have seen it. More importantly, He put it there. Which brings me to this point. There is something in you that is worthy, whatever you call it, of using to express both uniqueness and a sign of the Creator's desire to express Himself through you. There is no doubt that He will use that talent, if only you will open yourself to that call. The choice is yours.

Mirror Question

I sliced my hand wide open. A sharp disagreement my flesh had with a molded piece of steel was the cause. My flesh lost I'm sad to say. But the whatnots and wherefores of how the pale skin on my palm flayed to reveal inner muscle and various other oft unseen tissue is unimportant. What really matters is that the hand that was scarred was my right hand, and that is misery indeed, for it is my right hand that is dominant. This was brilliantly shown to me after I could do nothing with this hand, and looked like an inebriated monkey when trying to perform the simplest task. Which led me to think about the blessing from God that is my right hand. It is in this appendage that I display my talents, and when it is crippled I strain with great difficulty to do that which just a day ago was easy. And this made me wonder how often do we forget the great talents that we have been given all in the sense of trying to use our least dominant hand. This is not meant to be literal. In fact, it makes much less sense that way. Figuratively speaking, imagine the talents that you have. I already know some people insist that they have no talents, but that is a falsehood. Everybody has been blessed by God with some gift, be it large or small, and in that gift we exude the likeness of our creator. His talents are on display in us all, and though I will not take the time to enumerate each potential gift, for they are countless, suffice it to say we all have them. Now imagine we are ignoring those gifts. For some this may not be such a stretch. Imagine that we insist for ourselves to be using our figurative left hands, the arenas in which we have been given less abilities and less strengths, when our right hands are perfectly fine and functioning. We may stand there and curse our inabilities in our left hands when we fail to see all that we could do with our right. In simple terms we must ask ourselves, are we using the gifts that God has given us, or are we ignoring them for something we think will bring us greater glory, or something we think we must do instead. This is a good mirror question. For those wondering what a mirror question is, it's that kind of question you ask yourself when you are alone. Looking in a mirror. Yep, it's that easy.