Mickey and I went to a Presbyterian Church this afternoon to
see the
husband of a friend being
installed as the new pastor of a local church. The visiting
pastor gave the sermon and it was titled, Gifts. As usual,
hearing something that was said gave me ideas for an article
to write about gifts.
We usually think of gifts
as things that someone gives to you for birthdays,
anniversaries, Christmas and for "just because". Gifts are
also talents that we were given by God. The sermon started
me to thinking of my gifts/talents and how I have been using
them. My first talent is probably sewing. I learned to sew
when I was very young, even before I started school and
found that I was rather good as a seamstress. In fact, my
first college degree was in Home Economics and I did a lot
of sewing with that. Another talent that is also related to
my degree is cooking. I learned to cook at a very early age
and am considered to be a gourmet cook by many that have
eaten the food I have prepared. I have shared these two
talents many times through the years. I have made garments
for friends, made curtains for the church and even made
vestments for one of our priests. I even made an Indian
costume for both my son and one of his friends when he was
going to be in a Thanksgiving program at school and a clown
costume for my daughter and her friend so they could go as
clowns to a costume party. My cooking talent has been well
shared also. We have entertained friends and business
acquaintances many times. One of our favorite things to do
is to invite friends over for a meal that I have cooked with
Mickey??™s help. When we invite others to join us for a meal,
we are sharing our food and hospitality and in return they
are sharing their time with us.
As a teacher, I shared my
knowledge with my students and hopefully have inspired some
of them to get even more of an education than I could
possibly give them. As a student, I shared the knowledge of
my teachers and professors and then passed some of this on
to my own students.
The gift that I have been
given that is probably the most important is the gift of
love. I have received love of family and friends. I share my
love in return with others. I would hope that of all my
gifts, this last gift would be the one that I am remembered
by in the years to come.
We can all share our gifts
with others and not lose even a tiny part of these gifts. In
fact, it seems that perhaps, the more we share our gifts,
the more they grow. Let??™s all go out and share a gift with
someone today. They will probably share theirs with you.
As I heard in a song when
I was a child, "This little light of mine, I??™m gonna let it
shine, this little light of mine, I??™m gonna let it shine,
let it shine, let it shine, let it shine." I??™m going to let
my light shine by sharing my gifts.
I hope that the person who
receives them will enjoy them as much as I enjoy sharing.
?© Doris B. Fandal
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