Talented Application

Seems like God is weaving a thread made of gifts and talents through our lives right now. From recognizing them, to telling ourselves the truth about them, my family is in a discovery phase.

At this step on our talent trip, we're learning about application. After all, what good is a gift if you don't put it to use?

Any self aware 30 something has long since discovered their talents, right? At least with the obvious ones, we've all probably found the best way to employ them, surely. I certainly thought I knew what I am good at, why I am good at it, and what good I'm supposed to do with mine.

Of course, when you get to where you have discovered your talents, how you're supposed to use them is an entirely other conversation.

One of my talents/hobbies/passions is documenting lives, telling stories. I love, and think I'm pretty good at, collecting and documenting moments for myself and everyone connected to me. From photographs to scrapbooks to...blogs, I am a parliamentarian.

So application of this particular talent is obvious right? My son has had every moment of his life documented. My future daughter-in-law, grand children, great grand children and so on will have a rich picture of life in America in the 2000's. Heck, some archaeologist may someday describe our whole culture based on something cute I wrote to describe some moment of our life. Pretty cool.

But I thought my geeky scrapbooking hobby wasn't really a talent. It was just a way to color, cut and glue my way to relaxation and a legacy. After all, these elementary skills aren't really a talent, right? Everyone learns these skills in kindergarten.

 

But then the definition and purpose of this talent began to really reveal itself. Parents whose kids were on the same team as my son's got their kids documented. Cub Scouts in our Pack, they all got documented too. And their parents began to tell me they thought differently about recording their lives.

And that turned into conversations about moms needing to pick up a camera and photograph themselves. If you have a husband or significant other that will take pictures of you, great. Mine isn't  going to give much thought to it. He loves me, he just thinks it's more important to enjoy me than document me. So I have learned to take pictures of myself because I am an important part of this story too.

A tour of the new Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge exposed a possible new use of my talent. Someone is helping parents of babies in NICU there scrapbook their families' walk through what is always an emotionally trying time. Therapy scrapbooking!

Now revelations like this are serendipitous. It never occurred to me that my talent/hobby was needed as service in my community, or anyone other than our family for that matter. But now that I see it, it's clear to me that ALL of our talents/abilities/hobbies are needed somewhere in the service of our community.

Maybe your talent is understanding technology. There are not-for-profits doing great things in our community who could use tech counseling to keep moving forward. If your talent is public speaking, there are even more area agencies looking for people to be ambassadors for causes that at least one of which you'd be passionate about.

My talent is an important part of my work, my real job. But it looks like it may be an important part of so much more. Your abilities are too. While what you're good at may have gotten you to a great place professionally and personally, now is the time to start looking for where your talents can help others get to a great place too.

A friend of mine is in a phase of discovery much like mine. She has known for years how to use her creativity talents at work. Now, with her own innovation & creativity counseling gigs, Connie is surprising herself, and her admiring fans, with how wide the application of her talents can spread. In fact, you can learn more at her upcoming event with The Arts Council here https://www.facebook.com/events/122198911270706/

Your talents and abilities are needed. They can be the key to success to solving real challenges in our community. Or, they could be the simple comfort a scared or challenged family of strangers needs to find hope. Either way, you win in sharing and we all win in the miracle your gift creates.