We are All Gifted... Just Not as Gifted as Others!

“But let each one prove what his own work is, and then he will have cause for exultation in regard to himself alone, and not in comparison with the other person. For each one will carry his own load.” - Galatian 6:4 – 5

Yes, not all men (or women) are born equally gifted, but it may not be something to rejoice or despair about. The world runs better on interdependence - each one utilizing each one's strengths, so just stop looking at what others have that you don't... Chances are they do not have what you have either! Let us focus on our strengths rather than our weaknesses... The world needs them more.

Let me share with you a story called A Rabbit in the Swim Team from Charles R. Swindoll's book, Seasons of Life...

Image courtesy of
Periwrinkle Park

Once upon a time, the animals decided they should do something meaningful, so they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.

The rabbit started at the top of his class in running, but developed a nervous twitch in his leg muscles because of so much make-up work in swimming.

The duck was excellent in swimming; in fact, better than his instructor. But he made only passing grades in flying, and was very poor in running. Since he was so slow in running, he had to drop swimming and stay after school to practice running. This caused his web feet to be badly worn, so that he was only average in swimming. But average was quite acceptable, so nobody worried about that – except the duck.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing, but he encountered constant frustration in flying class because his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down. He developed "charlie horses¹" from overexertion, and so only got a C in climbing and a D in running.

The eagle was a problem child and was severely disciplined for being a non-conformist. In climbing classes, he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to get there....

Each creature has its own set of capabilities in which it will naturally excel – unless it is expected or forced to fill a mold that doesn't fit.

Let's be realistic here... How many hours do we have in a day? How much resources do we have? Wouldn't they be better spent on improving our innate abilities rather than trying to acquire abilities that other people have? Let's take Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao as an example. We all know that he's a gifted boxer... Would it be wise for him to divide his time and energy training for basketball and boxing at the same time?

Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion...” And every good work begins with a plan and a design. It's not likely that God, in all his infinite wisdom (and creativity) would make an error by applying the same design to 2 persons.

God designed us for a specific purpose and equipped us with traits and abilities that sum up to one unique individual. And for me, I'd rather honor God by using my gifts to glorify Him instead of always looking at what He gave others. But anyway, that's just me and you have your own unique thoughts...

God bless!

__________________________________________________________________
1 a popular term for painful spasms or cramps in the leg muscles
 
I value additional insights and feed back, your comments are appreciated.