If you have a talent, it’s God’s gift to you. If you use that talent, that’s your gift to God. –Red Skeleton.
My mother always claimed to have no talents. But that wasn’t true. Not that she lied. No, she really thought that about herself. But I’m here to tell you she had talents. Let me list a few:
- She was a homemaker, a wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. Even the children my sister-in-law babysat called her ‘Granny’, and loved doing so.
- Her meals consisted of good, wholesome, solid food–cannon ball biscuits, beef roast and gravy, whatever veggie your heart desired, and the best cherry cobbler you ever dug a spoon into! You didn’t visit her home without an offer of food.
- She loved to sing and most times you could hear her singing or humming a favorite song.
- She was a caring, giving soul. I watched as she used her car to take others less fortunate to the grocery or to the doctor’s. She gave of her own money to those who didn’t needed.
She used her talents well, and I’m sure God said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
The dictionary defines talent as a “special, natural ability.” That art that comes easier than other people might labor over. A gift that is special and used wisely, can bless others. Talents don’t have to be great or famous. Talents don’t have to be skills like singing or instrumental playing or speaking. They can be something as simple as sharing your best cookies or recipes. Maybe sending cards or making phone calls to the shut ins. Maybe your talent lies in knitting or crocheting a prayer shawl for hurting souls. Or giving to missions.
Why? Because God blessed you with that gift. Something special. Something he knew you could do, and do well.
I remember the time I placed my first WWII Spies book in her hands, the way she smoothed her fingers over it, the love and pride she had that I’d accomplished this goal. Was she jealous? No, she was happy that I could do this.
That book was dedicated to her, and well deserved too. We might not have always agreed, might have had our differences at times, but she was a woman I looked up to, a friend, and a talented, smart woman.
Yeah, she had a talent. A giving, caring talent, something that many don’t have.
Think about it? Do you have a talent that you acknowledge and share with others? Something that others would cast away but that God has bestowed on you to use and use well? A talent that is to be valued and used so that it spreads joy and love and encouragement?
I suppose that’s what the scripture was talking about when Jesus told the story of the Parable of Three Talents. Do you think the third man who received the one talent was afraid he’d do it wrong and wouldn’t satisfy his “hard” master? Or was he ashamed of his talent? Or maybe he was just plain lazy! Could it have been he had a selfish attitude–why should I do this so my master will get the money? Or jealous, that he’d been give only one talent? Whatever the reason, he wasted his talent and the opportunity given him.
Whatever your ability, use it. If you don’t know what it is, find it. Don’t let it waste. Let it explode beautifully in your life.
Leave a Reply