GIFTS

We all have them - even you!

"...he who sweeps a floor..." Hymn by Martin Luther

I am not talking about Christmas or Birthdays, when they arrive decoratively wrapped and beribboned in festive array for that special occasion. The gifts of which I am speaking are Soul Gifts that have been bestowed upon every single one of us. There are no exceptions. Some folk may call them talents, but I choose to use the term ‘gift’ in this context, for gifts are for giving and sharing.

Having read so far, some of you may declare firmly, and with confidence, "I have no gifts, I am not at all talented."

Were this really true, it would be sad indeed, but it is not. Here the words ‘gift’ and ‘talent’ are being confused. True they are very close in meaning. I selected ‘gift’, because I wished to emphasize the act of giving. When you give a friend a present, you no doubt give some thought to its use, practical or aesthetic. If your friend does not appreciate the usefulness of the gift, it will no doubt be relegated to a deep dark cupboard and forgotten, it may be passed to another, or thoughtlessly discarded.

If you truly believe that you have no Soul Gifts – for all that I have said embraces them too – then I would strongly advise you to search diligently to recover them. Maybe you stowed them away, unwrapped even, in the darkest recess of your mind closet. As Soul Gifts they were bestowed upon you with love when you came here. They deserve your notice and your appreciation.

A lone voice questions. "How do I recognize these Soul Gifts? I am neither gifted nor talented, I am no artist, play no instrument, am tone deaf and lack the ability to dance the proverbial jig."

Sure, I am very sorry for you, but I suspect that you are confusing the simple ‘gifted’, with the more complex meaning of talented. These days, we look into ourselves for ‘talent’, the next stop being stardom in our arena of excellence. Few of us climb to this height, so what of the rest of us?

Someone murmurs anxiously, "I must have been missed out. I don’t even know what to look for now."

And this is where we must begin, in the simplest of ways. A Soul Gift is an ability. I would place Happiness very high on my own list. (Notice, it figures on your list too.) I try to keep this one well polished and in constant use. It takes effort. It is easy to allow it to slip away and be replaced by misery, so I try always to be vigilant. When I slip from my fervent resolve, I look around for a means to reinstate my gift. In doing so, I find others, the ability to see the beauty around me, to hear the song of a bird or the bark of a dog. The sheer gift of living, of being me, with the ability to appreciate all that I have and be thankful for all that goes to make me the person that I am. I feel thankful that I can bake a cake, work in my garden, care for wild animals,   write a letter, talk to a friend, knit, sew and spin, and even dare to draw, knowing full well that my effort is far from flawless and I will never reach stardom in this area, or in any other. One thing I can always do, even if an effort is required to escape from our worst enemy, negativity, I can smile.

A smile costs nothing. It raises your spirits and lightens your load as you flood your soul with its radiance. You too have this gift. Use it. Share it. Smile at the stranger you pass, or as you both reach for a jar of honey from the supermarket shelf. The chances are you will have given a happy gift to a stranger, and maybe they too will do the same to someone else.

- Sylvia Roff-Marsh.