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What Are You Doing With What You’ve Been Given?
By Jean Davenport-Niles
Recently I found myself thinking about gifts. Not birthday gifts or Christmas gifts, but the things we arrive in life carrying. Each of us has been granted at least one or perhaps several.
Some people are given a quick wit. Others have patience. Some have money. Others have time. Some are natural encouragers. Others have humor. Some are artistic. Some are very handy with tools. Some are brainiacs. Others are gifted teachers. A few people seem able to walk into a room and make everyone feel welcome.
For years I thought the question was, “What has God given me?” I remember asking a pastor this very question when I was thirteen.
Lately, I think the better question may be: “What am I doing with what I’ve been given?”
Most of us spend time wishing for someone else’s gifts. We compare. We measure. We dream.
We wonder why another person seems more talented, more successful, or more fortunate.
Yet God never asks me to account for someone else’s life. He only asks me about my own.
Did I use my words to encourage? Did I use my experiences to help another person?
Did I take the burdens I carried and turn them into wisdom? Did I leave people better than I found them? Did I choose forgiveness? Did I choose happy over sad emotions? (Yes, we can choose these.)
The older I get, the more I believe that life is less about what we receive and more about what we cultivate.
A seed does not become a tree overnight. Character doesn’t either. Neither does faith. Or kindness. Or wisdom.
Every day we are given opportunities to grow something worthwhile. A kind word. A forgiving heart. A helping hand. A listening ear. Doing what is right. Meeting people halfway.
The question is not whether we were given enough. The question is what we did with what was already in our hands. How did I use my talents, time and temperament.
At the end of life, I don’t think God will ask if we had the most. I think He may ask whether we were faithful with what we had. And that, perhaps, is enough. Perhaps that is what He is counting on us to do.