Talents

It's amazing the diversity of interests and talents people have. I recently looked through a Taste of Home magazine and saw the most amazing cakes. These cooks had spent countless hours decorating cakes for wedding, celebrations, baby showers etc. and the art they created from their imagination with frosting and fondant was incredible.

One woman created a three layer stack of cakes that resembled suitcases with a camera on top for a newly wedded couple. She had the tiniest details down to the buckle on the suitcases looking so real I would have never guessed the whole thing was something you could eat. The really amazing fact was that she'd never had schooling for cake decorating; she just played around with something she loved and found a talent she didn't know she possessed.

One afternoon some of my girlfriends and I were discussing the intricate details our grandmothers put into quilt making. Hand-stitching, tiny pieces of fabric sewn together to make beautiful patterns and the love and time that went into each piece. They all loved making quilts for new babies, grandchildren's graduations and weddings that they continued to do so even when arthritis crippled their hands and their eyesight dimmed.

Talents are so much more than the ability to make something, the ability to sing or dance or speak to large groups of people with eloquence. Talents are more often those gifts which hover in the background of life but are noted even more than those used publically. Things like making a hotdish for someone who just had surgery. Mowing an older neighbor's lawn just for the sake of doing it. Calling someone just to see how they are and to encourage them through a tough time.

All this thought of talents made me start thinking about my own talents and how I used them. Did I use them for my own purposes or did I use them to bring joy to others? Did I use them so people would marvel at my skills or thoughtfulness or was I genuinly thinking of them and their needs?

I recently had an interview with Favorite PASTimes and some of the questions asked made me really think about why I write and what my purpose in doing so is? I learned a lot about myself - and I wasn't pleased with everything I discovered. It makes me go back to my 'motto' from 1 Corinthians 10. Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

What are your talents? How do you use them?