Talent: A free gift from God

Talents are natural abilities or gifts to do things better than others. It is inborn, inherited and not learned. It is a free gift from God to man. It is a great potential to do something worthwhile. Getting talent is not enough; there should also be practice to fan such gift into flame. Practice is the driving force that makes the natural gift or talent to become perfect. Talent is used for the benefit of others not for self alone. We are all gifted with it in one way or the other so no one is completely empty. Anything you have passion for and you are good at doing without stress is your TALENT.

However, some people have talent and they are not aware of it either because they have nobody to put them through or they have not discovered it yet. Talent helps to bring out someone and give them an image. It will be difficult to separate a person from his/her talent. It is not forced on anyone; it could be a gift from parents to their children. When put to use it appreciates and brings more recognition. It is always natural and not artificial or learned, but you can improve on it by constant practice. For instance some talents like music, drawing, cooking, and creative writing can be improved upon to make them better. To identify those who have a talent for music, you would notice how good they are in reading spreadsheets sounds. Ordinarily, reading music notations is boring and difficult to understand but a person who has a talent in music will naturally find it easy which shows that it is a gift naturally inherited. Also when it comes to writing, those who have the gift of it will not have problems but find it easy to use their writing ability to do wonders. When people who have the gift of writing are putting down their points you would discover that there is some uniqueness in their style of writing and also their flow of thought will know no bounds. It shows that it is drawn from the wealth of their thought. They do not need to struggle with ideas, fluency and cohesion all because it will come naturally on its own. The same is also applicable to those who can sew or called fashion designers. These set of people do not need to struggle with styles, patterns or designs because it comes to them naturally. They are capable of creating different styles without stress and they can also use pieces of different materials to make a whole. They have no problem when it comes to designing; they have passion for wears and are good when it comes to selection of fabrics. Most times they are called doctors of fashion. When you hear them talk, they would often say they have never attended a fashion school. For people like this, you would boldly say it is a gift.

To know your talent, it must be something you find joy in doing not because of the money you are earning but because there is a particular joy you derive from it. You may be good at many things but the one you are passionate about, that is where your talent lies. Your friends can help you at this point to discover your talent if you find out that you are not too sure about it. You do not need a wide range of friends but few ones who know you very well can help you to identify your talent. You can also identify your talent in areas where people beg you to help them out. It means that you are good in that area. Talents not put in use can easily die without you knowing it. In Mathew 25:14-30, Jesus gave the story of a man who was traveling, and distributed talents to his servants according to their abilities, which means whatever you cannot handle God will not give you. It is believed that talents are given to us according to our ability or capacity. The first was given five and he traded with it and got another five, the second one was given two and he traded with it and got another two and the third person was given one but he did not even make effort, he went further to bury his talent in the soil and it did not bear any fruits. The third servant only came with some flimsy excuses trying to cover his negligence. Others were praised but he was not, because he was seen like a lazy fellow who never wanted to use his talent to develop or assist those around him. He was severely punished for his lack of productivity.

Furthermore, some are not productive with their gifts and feel they have nothing to offer and some who know that they are talented are not serious with their talent and prefer to be begged before they can do anything. Such talents can easily die off before you know it. Instead of people to identify you with your talent all they can see is a proud person who feels big all the time. The pride is more pronounced then the talent. Talent is what we should celebrate with honour and dignity. It brings out the best in you. It is an additional beauty to one’s life. It is a gift that makes us complete as human beings, a blessing bestowed on man that can even run through his generation when it is identified on time. Talent should be used as a powerful weapon to develop ourselves and the society. Some people are not using their talents well because they do not glorify God with it. For instance, singers who are producing songs without any valuable messages can actually destroy instead of building. Music without direction can go a long way to destroy lives. Many young people are being carried away by music. Music is the food for the soul and it should be prepared very well before producing it. Music and dancing go together because they are a way of celebrating life. Dancing should be taken seriously because it is another way to showcase God’s given talent. Some people are identified as renowned dancers; others have won lots of awards and made names from it.

Through their unique talents of dancing, many have gotten married while some have danced and caused destruction. A typical example of this could be found in the gospel of Mark 6:22-23 which says “when his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, ask me for whatever you wish and I will give you. And he swore unto her, whatever you shall ask of me, I will give it to you, even the half of my kingdom.” From the scriptural passage we could see that Herodias had the talent of dancing and the Bible said she was able to dance so well that the whole congregation was pleased and King Herod promised to give her whatever she asked for. As a little girl, who had no complete knowledge of life, she ran to her mother who said to her in verse 25, “ask for the head of John the Baptist.” She ran straight away to the king saying “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist,” and in verse 26, the Bible said the king was in deep sorrow and did not know what to do because he had sworn an oath in the presence of his guests and did not want to go back on his words. In verse 27, immediately he ordered the executioners to go and behead John the Baptist in the prison, in verse 28 we were told that the head was given to her and she handed it over to her mother and in verse 29 John’s disciples heard of it, came and took up his corpse and laid him in a tomb. Instead of being awarded for the gift of her talent which is dancing, it ended up bringing sadness to the king and also brought an end to the life of an innocent man, John the Baptist. We should always remember that talents are free gifts from God to better our lives and those around us and not for destruction.

Sr Margret Ogbebor SSMA is a Catholic Nun, working in the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto. She is the Head Teacher of St Martin de Porres Nursery and Primary School Katsina. [email protected]