Talent

      Often, when confronted by individuals with startling or unusual skills or abilities, we remark on their talent and predict that they will or should be famous one day.  Anyone extraordinary should never be cursed to live on the sidelines of life and settle for simply normal.  Why is that what we call "talent" must always be rewarded by success or fame?  We have a natural inclination to elevate the best or most fascinating among us to the upper eschelons of society.  Talent cannot be "wasted" on the ordinary crowd.  In our minds, all the celebrities are fit only for one another's society so we can both idolize and ridicule them as their dirty laundry is strung out for us to see.
     There is something inherently wrong with this.  For starters, it is aggrandizing the small details of individual human existences into over-sized spectacles fit only for entertainment. On the grand scale iof things, man is pretty small.  Each person is insignifcant in the larger history of our race.  This is what makes the Gospel so unique.  The Bible tells us that although man was made from dust, yet God cares for us, even while we were still sinners.  I love David's words in the psalms: "What is man, that you are mindful of him?"  Even in our most magnificent, talented, extraordinary moments, we are nothing.  At our largest, we are still small.  Pretending otherwise is pride, folly, and falsehood.  The other thing wrong with the mentality that talent-deserves-reward is that it defies the New Testaments "the church is a body" metaphor.  The body has many parts, each of which serves a different and equally vital function. Granted, some functions are more...dignified...than others, but they are all equal.  In a sense, then, we all have a "talent" or a gift or a special ability to use within this greater body.  When we begin to dignify some talents above others, we are implying that certain talents or gifts are less important or, more tragically, not important than all.  When we begin to value people for what they can do, then we fall into the salvation-by-works trap that the Protestant reformers worked so hard to negate. 
       I would argue that instead of restricting people who possess the "flashy" talents (generally centered around performance) only to the "flashy" circles and environments, we should let them stay within their communities, if that is what God has called them to do.  I have been given certain talents, and over the years, there have been voices speaking into my life encouraging me to pursue success and attention because of my gifts.  And yet, I get confused with too much attention and have never felt right seeking notareity for myself.  I love what I do, and am constantly reminded of Eric Liddell and how he felt about running: "When I run, I feel God's smile."  I love sharing my talents with the people immediately around me and staying on the margins a bit.  So this brings me to another question: if you have been given a "flashy" talent, ought you to seek success?  Those on pedestals, whether for good or ill, have influence and influence can always be used for God's glory.  But still...
     
      In my short life, I have seen people of great talent and have even been on the receiving end of accolades. I always feel strange when people compliment me or tell me I should be such and such or do this and that.  The reaction is a mixture of pleasure at being recognized, pride and being better than other people, for enjoying the success, and guilt for not first thanking and acknowledging God.  How does the Christian respond to success? It takes serious training and dedication to direct every acknowledgment of the gifts you possess to God and to thank Him.  Every moment, we must remember our smallness and His greatness. But there is more than that to it.  If we experience success or praise for our talents, it is acceptable and even good to rejoice that we have been used. That God has graciously seen fit to bless others through us.  It is good and even joyful to take delight in the works of our hands and in what we can do.  The high I get after I have finished a job I knew I completed to the best and fullest of my abilities is, of course, partly pride, but it also dancing of my soul in feeling itself acting according to its nature. Our soul rejoices when it gets to do what it was created to do. I think the Proverbs 31 wife had a heck of a smile.

Friends

     As I write this, I am surrounded by good friends. They are friends I haven't necessarily known for a long time, but they are still friends. One friend I spent several hours with giggling, curling hair, and dousing ourselves with sparkles before donning pretty dresses and heading out to a masquerade. One friend I love with and she fills everyday with silliness and joy. One friend I know tangentially from the second friend and he recognizes the value of many things the rest of the world dismisses. We are all sitting around my living room late at night, two of us puttering around on our computers and two of us crafting spectaularly inventive Christmas decor for our several bland apartment. Michael Buble is playing on Pandora and I have just put away my homemade cinnamon raisin whole wheat bread.

     I have other friends, ones I have known so much longer and with whom I share many sweet and precious memories. But these friends are here now. These friends have seen me at my worst and at my best and understand what my school and the people in it are like. Friends are people who accept you and cherish your oddities and don't mind you sitting in your pj's on the living room floor with the remains of fancy make-up on adding random, semi-helpful comments about the decorations strew about you. I love my friends, but I have never really understood the value of companionship until recently. I have never wanted to need people, seeing this desire or need as a weakness. People will always leave you, so never need them so much that they can hurt you.  Now, I know that God is my constant in my life and the steady stream of people flowing in and out of my life--some drifting away only briefly, ever to return, and others flowing forever away, never to return--is not a weakness but a blessing. God is teaching me to love fully and openly, acknowledging that nothing is permament but all people are eternal and that each soul He chooses to run headlong into our lives (or even just tiptoe around the edges) is precious and oh-so-important. We cannot measure who they are to us or who we are to them. We must just open our arms and our hearts and, smiling our hugest of smile to our Heavenly Father who loves to surprise us with gifts that delight our souls, say "thank you."



                                                              Thank you.