Have you discovered your gift? May be more than one? Share your thoughts with me, I'd love to hear all about it. Let's get excited about ourselves!
For now, let's pray and invite the Holy Spirit to fill us with His Wisdom as we open the Word:
Hello Lord, thank you for this day. Sometimes we are thankful the day is over. Whatever is going on in our lives, please open our hearts to You and calm our spirits. We invite Your Holy Spirit to reveal the kind of wisdom and knowledge only You can give, today. In the name of Jesus, amen.
Yesterday we talked about our spiritual or Spirit-given gifts. Today we are going to talk about what God puts into our DNA, and shapes through our experiences into talents, passions, and callings. Sound exciting? It is - you are an incredible creation. It's time to recuperate our spirits by discovering our creative gifts!
We get dry in our spirits. We get worn down and out. But God created us with passion and joy and some of us only know that we are longing for something, longing to be something or to do something, but we don't know what it is.
Sometimes we think we need a new relationship. Sometimes we think we need a new town. We just get restless because we know we are more than this. We are made for more than this.
You know what? You are right!
We are going to rekindle something placed in you, that was for you. It might be something you used to enjoy but let go when others didn't "get it." It might be something you are not "supposed" to be good at because no one else in your family approves. It might be something you have always admired in others but didn't think your ability was worth improving. Are you starting to get a tingle in your spine that what I am saying is true?
Like me, you are an individual. No matter if you have become a parent, a care-giver, a spouse, a volunteer, an employee, a business-owner, a missionary, a doctor, a servant, unemployed, homeless, friendless, or just empty.
You came into this world with certain dreams and desires instilled in your spirit and it's time to wake them up!
Before we go any further, I want you to spend some time thinking about what you loved to do, or spent time doing when you were about 10 years old. About the 5th grade. How did you play? What made you feel good, or talented, or right?
What did you do because it was fun, or natural, or people complimented you on, or just seemed like the thing to do?
I realized a few years ago that I was lost in my roles of wife and mother. I didn't feel lost, I mean the essence of me was lost somewhere in the layers of who I was to everyone I loved and served.
Everything else seemed secondary and frivolous. But I was shrinking in my spirit. I was giving to everyone but me. I was encouraging my children to dream and discover themselves and celebrate their talents and yet, I denied them a daily example.
You know what I figured out? That no matter what role I have (because things change in life) I am still a woman, a unique individual, with my own interests and talents and dreams. I didn't have to exchange the essence of who I am in order to be a good wife, mother, teacher, volunteer, etc. In fact, I was giving less than I could have because I wasn't accessing my real strength, my passionate spirit!
I started thinking about what I would do as a kid, just because. Can you guess what I came up with? I wrote. I drew and painted. I directed skits for my friends to put on. I rode my horse and played with my dogs and cats. When everyone was asleep on Saturday night, I snuck into the living room and watched Saturday Night Live on low because it was about the only thing I had in my life to make me laugh.
I didn't do any of that stuff anymore. Till now.
I started doing the things that make me feel like me again and it has opened up a new world and a new career for me. I am passionate about my life, all of it, not just the parts that serve other people and so are "worthy."
By recuperating my spirit through using my creative gifts, I am giving my children a more balanced and happy mother, I am setting a great example for them to model, I am a more relaxed and spontaneous wife, and I have more energy to give to the projects I choose to be involved with.
Sure some things had to go so I could become creative, but that's life. We make choices. People get over them.
You know what else? People who have something they are excited about - passionate people - achieve their goals, attract like minded people, experience more joy and feelings of satisfaction . . and feel less stressed.
Luke 8:16 ESV “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light."
Psalm 150:1-6 ESV - "Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!"
Proverbs 15:13 NIV - "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit."
James 1:17 NKJV - "Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
Lord, thank you for all the gifts You have given us. Rekindle in us the spark of Your Creative Spirit! Let us get excited about the person You made in each of us. Open the doors for us to praise You with our talents. Let us sing, dance, and get loud about it! In Jesus' name, amen.
Love, Karen
Photo by Mat Hayward, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/
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