...about Gifts

...about Gifts

In last week’s post, One, I urged you to seek out the source of your Holy Discontent; that one social or moral injustice in our world that you can just no longer tolerate. And then I challenged you to go out and do something about it.

I hope that you’ve at least begun the process of doing exactly that this past week. Yes, I realize that doing so may involve opening your eyes to some things that you’d rather not see, opening your heart to some things that you’d rather not feel, and opening your mind to some things that you’d rather not think about.

And yes, I also realize that once you’ve identified your Holy Discontent, you can no longer pretend that you don’t know that it exists. Once that happens, you’re faced with two paths to from which to choose.

If you opt to take the first path, let’s call it The Path of Least Resistance, you simply choose not to do anything about your discontent. While you may not be able to forget about it, you’ll bury it so deep in your subconscious that it will only tug on your heart every once in a while. You’ll turn a “blind eye” to your discontent, seeing it only when you glimpse it by mistake, or when you have to. Sadly, far too many of us take this path.

I pray that you choose the second path, which I’m gonna call “The Path Travelled by So Few That You Can Barely Find It in the Overgrowth.” Yeah, I know that it’s a long name for a path, but it really fits. You see, most choose not to take this path because it calls for action. And it requires effort. You have to walk this path, and it’s not always an easy one. Just as being successful in life requires a great deal of effort, so does trying to be a difference maker in the world. And, as is so often the case, this path runs parallel to the path you take in life. What I’m trying to tell you is that many times your Holy Discontent is added to the list of things that you already have to do each day!

So if it’s that much trouble, why bother with it?

“Trust me.”

Why is it that our guard immediately goes up whenever we hear those two little words?

When someone that I don’t know well tells me to trust them, I instinctively trust them a little less. I don’t care who it is! It’s not that I don’t trust people; I do. It’s just that in my eyes, trust is something that is earned. Show me that I can trust you, and I will trust you with everything that I have; without question. Betray my trust, and it’s time for you to find a new friend. That’s just the way that I am, and I neither make excuses nor offer apologies for it.

You may be wondering how it is that I segued from talking about Holy Discontent to matters of trust?

Well, it’s like this: If you’ve visited these pages often enough, it is my sincere hope that I have earned your trust, at least to some degree. If I have earned that trust, I consider myself blessed. If I haven’t, well, I’m sorry. I just offer what I believe to be true, and what is on my heart each week…what you do with it is up to you.

Your Holy Discontent and YOU.

I closed last week’s post by saying…

The next step is for you to do something about it. If you do. Make that, when you do you’ll find that the most incredible thing happens. The more that you feed your Holy Discontent, the more it will feed you. And you’ll find that your life is richer, fuller, and more complete that you ever dreamed possible.

As much as I don’t want to tell you this, I’m compelled to do exactly that…

Trust me. If you act on your Holy Discontent, if you try to make this world a better place, if you try to make a difference in the life of one person or in the lives of one thousand, your life will never be the same. God will bless you oh so much. You won’t look at the world in the same way, and I can assure you that the world won’t look at you in the same way. I believe this with all that is in me, and I use my own life as an illustration of what God will do for you when you’re willing to do for Him. If you’ve identified the source of your discontent, and have already acted on it, you know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t you? And it is awesome, isn’t it?

“What if I know what it is, but don’t know what to do about it? Where do I begin?”

Well, you can start by using some of the gifts that God has given you. No, I’m not talking about spiritual gifts; those are the topic of next week’s post.

I’m talking about your financial resources, or your time, or your talents. You can use any or all of these things in helping to make the world a better place.

Don’t have the financial resources to help change the world?

That’s okay. Devote some of your time to helping in a hospital, a school, a neighborhood outreach, or a retirement community. You look hard enough, and you’re gonna find the switch that starts your engine.

What’s that? You don’t think that you have a talent? Think again.

We’re all born with at least one talent, one “gift”, that God has bestowed upon us. Some of those talents become evident early in our lives. Other talents may remain hidden for years, manifesting themselves when we least expect them, and taking us totally by surprise. We may not know that we possess these talents, but God certainly does. I’m going to use myself as an example.

When I was born again in August of 2006, I made a commitment to be a soldier of Christ and to take the news of what God had done in my life to anyone who would listen. And I told my wife Jackie that I wanted to take that message around the world…

Yep, around the world!

You may be chuckling a bit at my worldly aspirations, and I don’t blame you one bit for it. You see, when I made that statement, even I thought that notion of doing such a thing was farfetched. How was I gonna take anything, especially my thoughts about God, around the world? Didn’t matter. That’s what I said, and that was my intention.

At the time, there was one thing that I hadn’t really considered:

God was listening.

The first thing that He did was to ignite a fire in me to spread His Word, to be a light that shines for Him, to plant a small seed of hope in the lives of those who were hopeless.

And then He put me in front of this laptop. During a six month period, a period of unbelievable spiritual growth, I kept a daily journal of the wonders that God was doing in my life. I wrote, and wrote, and wrote. I didn’t know why I was writing. I didn’t know who I was writing for. I just knew that I had to write.

Looking back now, I believe that God was preparing me to launch The Seed of Hope. He was revealing my gift of communication through writing that I never knew existed. You see, I’d never written anything before. Had never taken a writing class. Didn’t know all the things that a writer is supposed to know then, and still don’t today (This may be quite obvious to many of you).

But I knew what was on my heart, what was on my mind, and I knew that part of God’s purpose for me was to share this gift. So I asked Him to give me the words to say. And I still do that to this day, each time that I sit down to share my thoughts with you. And He does. I don’t do rough drafts; I just sit down and write. (This may also be obvious to many of you! It’s about the message, not the grammar or punctuation!)

And then I got this crazy idea to do a blog page! So here I sit, some 18 months and 84 posts later, trying to crank out the 85^th one. Since its launch, The Seed of Hope has had over 8,500 new visitors from, well, from all over the world! I don’t know how many keep up with The Seed through Face Book, or how many of you forward each week’s post to friends, or how many of you relate what you’ve read to others.

It’s not really about the numbers, anyway. Like I told you last week, I would do it for one. Come to think of, I only do this for one. His name is God.

Sorry for rambling.

Identify your Holy Discontent. Make a commitment to yourself to do something about it. Make a commitment to God to do something about it.

He’ll give you everything that you need to make it happen.

Have an awesome week!