The True Talents

A friend of mine emailed me and was feeling a little down about herself so I proceeded to tell her lots of wonderful things about herself. (People are always so willing to criticize and say negative things; why  not speak the positive?) And you know what was included in this list? She's caring, kind, reliable, hard-working, and loving. She is truly a wonderful lady and I love to be around her. People enjoy being in her presence. She cares about what you care about. Are those not the true talents in life?

We tend to value talents like being a great soloist, having great management abilities, being musically/athletically gifted, etc.  But those aren't the truly great things in life. Sure, if you have them they are great. Use them to the best of your ability to serve God but don't waste time feeling bad if you don't have those talents. There are talents we can all work on developing! Here are a few that I'm working on!

Be a good listener. One way of being well-liked is to be interested, not interesting. Interested people are focused on others and what they are saying. Interesting people are usually talking about themselves. (I've even started saying this to myself when someone is talking to me and I keep thinking of things to say about my life...'be interested, not interesting.' It reminds me to keep my mouth shut and let them talk!)

Be a discreet talker. Don't tell things about other people. Or for that matter too much about yourself. I read that a discreet lady is a praying lady. She can keep her mouth shut because she tells everything to Jesus. (Told you that reading program was a good idea!)

Be hard-working. Do a Bible study on work; God has a lot to say about it. And God's lady is not excluded. Pro. 31:13b says, "and worketh willingly with her hands." Work with the right attitude. Willing working has gone out of style; be different!

Be kind. Consider other people. Kindness has fallen by the wayside as people justify rudeness with "That's just the way I am." or "Well, it's true!" or "Just sayin'." None of those are a good excuse for hurting someone else's feelings or cutting them down behind their backs. God has a lot to say about our words too!

Be cheerful. Now seriously, how many cheerful people do you know? Most people are doom and gloom, or angry, or frustrated, or discontent, or...you get the idea! The Bible even says that mothers are joyful! (Ps. 113:9)

There are many well-loved people who have a great impact for Christ that have no great apparent talent. But they do have all the other character qualities that draw people to them and allow Christ to shine through their lives. And we can all work on these things. We can't all be great ball players, or pianists, or soloists, or public speakers, or writers. But we can all be kind, joyful, enthusiastic, caring, hard-working, etc. I want to focus on the right things that God can use my entire life!