You Were Born for This

Who You Are and What You Do Makes a Difference to God and the World Around You

Do you ever have those days when a Bible story comes to mind, and you begin to mull it over and ponder if there is more to the story? I felt that way the other day when the Parable of the Talents was brought to mind, and I began to wonder, What if the ‘talents’ referred to in the story were meant to speak to our natural gifts and talents and not to money as is commonly done? What if the parable is meant to remind us not to bury, or waste, the literal talents God has given us because if we use what we have, the world will be blessed, and God will increase our gifts. How awesome is that?

Here’s the thing, I once sang on a Worship Team at a wonderful church in Ohio where my faith grew and I had friends and felt so loved by the leadership there. Then, I began to think pretty highly of myself and the way I could sing Sandi Patty’s songs hitting all the high notes just like she did. I opened the door to pride and, boy, did it come in loudly.

We all know what happens next. As the Bible states in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Or as The Message version states, “First pride, then the crash – the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.” And fall I did, right on my perfectly blushed face. It was humiliating. I was to sing a duet at a fundraiser where more than a hundred people were scheduled to attend, many of them successful business owners who gave great amounts of money to the Christian organization that had invited me to sing.

Well, my male singing partner and I agreed we had to sing Sandi Patty’s song because every time we did, people were in awe of how well we sang and the way we harmonized so beautifully. It would be another opportunity to wow them with our talent.

It took me decades to understand that God did not set me up to fail that night, to sound so horrible that people in the buffet line after we sang questioned what was wrong. I blamed the microphone. Can you believe it? I was so embarrassed I couldn’t admit what had really happened, nor did I fully understand what had happened.

Today, however, I believe I do understand. I opened the door for pride to come in, and Satan took advantage of it. He came in with fury and taught me a painful lesson. I stopped singing shortly after that out of fear that it would happen again. I couldn’t imagine bearing the humiliation yet again.

Today I wonder if God simply allowed me to sound like a sick cow that night to lovingly show me how very much I needed Him to give me the voice of an angel. His voice through me is what so many people were blessed by. As Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine. You are the branches. If a man (or woman) remains in me, and I in him (or her), he (or she) will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing” (emphasis mine).

Ouch. There I was thinking the talent was all mine. I was taking the credit and loving every moment on stage. I think God wanted me to get back up after my great fall, depending on Him to sing through me; but I never had the courage to try again.

Praise God, that is not my only gift – or at least I don’t think it is. I am gifted to write and craft. No more room for pride in this woman. The truth is, we’re all born with natural talents and gifts, and through knowing God and the natural course of life as we are led toward specific interests and hobbies, we begin to discover those talents and hopefully use them to bless others and bring them closer to God.

One person may be naturally gifted to sing or paint while another might have the creative ability to make beautiful jewelry or wood furniture. Some people have many gifts while others may have one primary gift. Whatever the case, our calling from God is to spend our lives discovering the talents and gifts He created us to use on earth, so our lives reflect His goodness, beauty, and light.

It makes more sense to me that burying our God-given talents and spiritual gifts would offend the Father more than just burying money and not making more of it through investments or interest. The love of money never brings joy or positively impacts the world for Christ, but the increase of our talents and gifts does. THAT is what the Father is blessed by.

I pray we all take inventory of the many talents and gifts we recognize in our lives and begin to use them to help people around us. Every human is connected, and our contributions are truly special to the people in our respective worlds. We can and should nourish one another’s souls when we need support to become the best version of ourselves.

Who you are and what you do makes a huge difference to God and the world. Ask Him to reveal to you the gifts you have yet to unwrap. Then begin to learn and practice and serve and bless everyone you can. The Father is watching and waiting for you to become the fullness of the person He created you to be.

May this Thanksgiving be a day of recognition and gratitude for all the gifts and talents you have been given. Make a list. I bet you’ll be surprised how long it is. Remember: “(You) are God’s handiwork (craftsmanship), created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for (you) to do” (Eph. 2:10). If that’s not exciting, I don’t know what is.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and those you love!

I am grateful for you and cannot wait to see how you share your many gifts and talents with the world.

Donna