reading Discover, Develop and Honor Your Gifts

Kind words can be short & easy to speak, but their echos are truly endless.-"Mother Theresa"


Reading Discover, Develop and Honor Your Gifts by Elizabeth Ricks
touched me deeply this morning. “The gift of complimenting,” now isn’t that a gift that we all hunger to be the benefactor of. I recently renewed a friendship with a high school acquaintance and I have realized one of the factors that make him special in my eyes is/are his specific articulate compliments. He has a kind heart which makes every interaction with him a blessing. One memory that popped into my head was sitting next to him in his parent’s living room. His little precocious adorable sister began telling us something and I began to laugh in delight. He quickly touched my leg and whispered "don’t laugh." I stopped immediately chagrined that my joyful noise could have been misinterpreted as mockery. The cute little sister might of thought I was laughing at her. How perceptive of him to know his little sister so well; to see in her heart and warn me to protect her. Contrast that with another young man I knew in high school.

One day he barged out of a classroom with gusto. The heavy metal door had no window and opened outward so there was great danger of smacking someone walking by in the hallway. This particular day it just happened to be his sister and I who were passing by. The door smashed his sister’s arm. I thought the arm might have been broken because the impact was so hard. What did he do? He high fived his friend, jumped in the air like he had just thrown the winning touchdown and ran off down the hall saying something like “wow, what perfect aim, what fantastic timing.” I remember him with loathing to this day. He turned out, no surprise, to be an unkind and cheating husband. I wonder how his third wife is doing….?

Oh dear, I am digressing from my topic, which is spiritual gifts and the blessing they bring to our lives when acquaintances develop them.

Another person I know has many gifts. The one most people admire is his gift of tongues. He is the only person I have ever met who has studied more than 50 languages. He collects learn-a-language tapes like some people collect coins or antiques. It was his kind heart or firstly his sister’s kind heart that attracted me to him at first. Then his dancing, musical, radio announcing and personable skills became enticing because I knew he was kind.

Someone blesses my life with his gifts of administration and leadership.

I greatly admire the gift of humor. And the ability to not take oneself too seriously. I have felt joy when friends have helped me see the funny side of life.

A worthy honest non-hypocritical ordained Bishop I know gives wise counsel that has blessed many troubled souls. I have been blessed because he can hear God’s voice and give priesthood blessings that are powerful, clear and precise. He literally has saved my life through his inspirational care.

What talents do I covet? What gifts do you? It is something to jot down and think about from time to time. And work on and honor! Then share as President Thomas S. Monson so ably admonished us with these words
“Share your talents, for that which we willingly share, we keep. But that which we selfishly keep, we lose.”-“The Spirit of Relief Society”, Ensign, May 1992, 101.