Toe in the Water

The Gift

The Gift

I think we all must know, deep down, that’s it’s a gift. That it’s something not everyone has and there was no particular reason why we were given it while others weren’t. It’s the same for everything, some having exceptional ability in sports, others in cooking pies or singing songs or cleaning drains. It’s a gift and there’s nothing special about us that makes us worthy recipients of it.

None of us was given the gift because we’re exceptionally good. We can become good at the thing but it has to be present first or we wouldn’t put the effort into developing it. It’s the gift that directs our feet and decides where we’re going. Our job is merely to follow along and get the thing done.

The great trap, of course, is to think that we are the gift. That this facility, this ease with which we do a certain thing, is because we are who we are. In effect, that we earned the gift, that something about us makes us worthy of it and that, ultimately, we become the gift. We see celebrities every day caught in this deception, convinced that it’s all happening because of who they are.

That’s not how it works. It really is a gift, something handed out as you leave the factory, a unique ability that becomes your reason for what you do. Others will imagine that you are something special, being able to do what you do so well, but you will know, in your heart of hearts, that it doesn’t matter what or who you are; it’s just there and the truth is you are more it’s servant than its master.

But it doesn’t have to be served. Because it’s a gift, you can ignore it and go another way. I don’t recommend that but it can be done. And that brings us to the matter of responsibility.

This is the string attached to the gift: responsibility. It matters what we do with the gift. If we use it creatively, it will grow and there will come a time when it will repay all the hard work it insisted upon in the beginning. Avoid using it and it will wither and die. That is the enormous responsibility heaped on our shoulders.

It’s the biblical tale of the talents, of course. There being no accidents, it was always intended that English should render the word for talent, a unit of money, as also a gift. It was so that the lesson could be hammered into our practical, literal English minds that it’s a gift and should be used wisely.

So always remember that it’s the gift, not you. Of course it’s nice when your creation is appreciated but don’t forget it’s only yours in as much as the gift is yours. Some day we’ll be called to account for it.


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