A Presentation I Did

On December 5, the Prayer Sisters group at our congregation held our brunch, which is also a time to bring a gift for your Prayer Sister to let her know who was praying for her specifically the past year. The organizer also asked myself and another woman to give a little presentation. Following is my presentation for that brunch.

Warning: Long Post

Using What God Gave You

Good morning! I was asked to speak this morning on the topic of “Using What God Gave You”, but before I get to the core of that topic, I would like to tell you a story about two women.
The first woman, let’s call her Woman A, was a very busy person indeed. She had raised five children, had several grandchildren, was very involved with her local church, and with a variety of people whom she knew from the community and other locations. She had done a lot of sewing in her years, as well as nurturing a very productive garden – and the canning and preserving work that comes at autumn with that -, and taught Sunday School classes for many, many years. She communicated well with others, and kept the lines of communication open with all of her children, grandchildren, other family members, and friends. She was known for her hospitality, her generosity, her gentle spirit, and her love and faith in God.
The second woman, okay – let’s call her Woman B, was a very busy person indeed. She had raised five children, had a few grandchildren, was very involved with her local church, and with a variety of people and organizations in her local community and from other locations. She did a lot of sewing, crocheting, knitting, and other crafts in her years, as well as nurturing a respectably productive garden – and the canning and preserving that comes at autumn with that -, and taught Sunday School classes for years. She also kept the Sunday School supplies well organized, communicated with her children and grandchildren regularly, as well as other family members, friends, and those in the organizations and groups she was a part of. She was well known for her hospitality, her ability to multitask and stay organized and “in the know” about what needed to be done and how things were being done, her gentle spirit, and her love and faith in God.
As you can easily tell, these two women have a lot in common, but they also have their own unique personality and abilities. Oh!! I guess I did get to the core of the topic right at the start!
Oh, and these two women have one more thing in common – they shared three of the same granddaughters – myself, and my two sisters. For when I first read the chapter ‘Using What God Gave You’ in the book, ‘The Purpose Driven Life’, I started to think about how each of my biological grandmothers used their abilities.
But then I began to wonder, what is the difference between a gift, a talent, and an ability? So I looked them up.
An ability is defined as; 1/ power or capacity to do or act, 2/ a talent, skill, or aptitude. Okay, what about a gift? In the sense that we are talking about today, a gift is defined as a special ability ; talent.
Hmmm, I’m seeing pattern here, so off to find the definition of talent; 1/ a special, often creative natural ability, and 2/ a person or persons with special ability.
So, if we are going to use these gifts, abilities, and talents that God gave each one us, how are we to figure out what God intends for us to do? We can start by taking a long, and truly honest look at what you are good at doing, and also what you really are not good at doing. And this is hard for us mostly because none of us want to “toot our own horn” and come out and say, “Hey! I’ve got a real talent with this thing! I AM SO good at it!” But neither do we want to look at ourselves and say, “You know what? As much as you may want to keep doing this thing, it just is not working the way this other thing would work for you if you put your energy there!”
Also, another problem with creating your own “Ability Inventory” is that there are likely many, many gifts, abilities and talents that you do not know you have because you have never been put, or put yourself, into a situation where you needed to use them. For example, before I picked up a crochet hook and learned how to crochet, I never thought I would be any good at, and look what that has become!
So as we start to look at how to use the gifts, abilities, and talents that God gave each of us, we need to start by asking ourselves:
1/ Where have I already been successful with using what God gave me?
2/ Where have I seen fruit in my life that other people confirmed?
3/ What do I want to experiment with to see if I can bear fruit in that area?

Because, unless you are actually involved in doing something, you are not going to know what you are good at! So, please get involved with something new and give it a try instead of saying, “Hmmm, I really don’t know if I’m going to be good at that. I’ll figure out my gifts and talents and abilities, and then possibly get involved.” You have a better chance of finding out what God gave you when you get involved and try something, not by thinking it out before you try the something!

You also need to take into account who you are, and what your personality is. Ask yourself:
1/ What am I doing when I feel the most fully alive?
2/ What am I doing when I lose track of time?
3/ Do I enjoy serving with a team or by myself?
4/ What do I really enjoy doing the most?

And in looking at how to use what God gave us, we can also really look at our own experiences in life and take the lessons we have learned and how those have shaped us. When John Clayton was here he talked briefly about a young woman who had been through a horrific experience, and now is planning on using some of that experience to develop a ministry and a service for other women who have gone through, or will go through the same kind of experience. What kinds of experiences have you each had? How could you use those to “bear fruit” for God?

Okay, so this all sounds so good! We can find our gifts, abilities, and talents, and we can use them! But what if I do not have a particular talent? What if someone else has that talent? Why can’t the talent, that I WANT, be on my list as well?
God gave YOU the specific talents, gifts, and abilities that you have for His purpose. Coveting someone else’s talent and resenting your own, that’s Satan trying to steal the joy you can have from using what God gave you! God wants you to enjoy what He gave you, those special and unique gifts, talents, and abilities that He put inside of you to do. Going back briefly to Woman A and Woman B at the beginning, I do not recall either of them ever saying that they wished they had the talent that the other had but that she did not. What I do recall is each of them being able to appreciate the ability the other had and complimenting her on the work that they were doing with what God gave her, and also encouraging her to keep going. As easy as it is to compare our talents to what we see are someone else’s talents, we need to focus on using our own talents, gifts and abilities, and also encouraging others to do the same!
Jesus’ parable of the talents illustrates how God expects us to make the most of what he gives us. As the author of ‘The Purpose Drive Life’ states, “We are to cultivate our gifts and abilities, keep our hearts aflame, grow our character and personality, and broaden our experiences so we will be increasingly more effective in our service.” Or in other words, if you don’t use what gifts, talents, and abilities God has given to you, you will lose them! But the parable also has another lesson in that if we use what God gave us, God will increase it! Wow, what a thought! That using our gifts, talents, and abilities that God gave us in the way that bears fruit for Him and glorifies Him could increase our abilities, gifts, and talents! Sounds to me like comparing someone else’s talents to my own would be counterproductive to what Jesus was saying!
But we also want to be sure that using what God gave us does not grow old, wearisome, and stale. So, after finding the gifts God gave you, and starting to use them, work at developing your gifts by practicing, stretching and challenging yourself, and learning all you can to improve on what you are already doing
For as a Danish proverb says, “What you are is God’s gift to you; what you do with yourself is your gift to God.”
Thank you.