“Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.” ~ Leo Buscaglia
Last time I wrote about embracing change and stepping outside of my comfort zone. Tonight I taught my very first religious education class. Two things: one, I think I am using the word taught pretty loosely here, and two, even though it terrified me, I did just fine. I have a wonderful group of kids, and we are going to have a great year. I have some great mentors in Fran, Judy, and Bobbi. They have all been wonderful and encouraging. It is amazing how those helping hands and smiling faces make stepping out of my comfort zone so much easier. One of the things we discussed as a group tonight was how have you shared your time and talents or shown generosity this past week? My kids expect this question because we discuss it a lot, and they know that it can be the little things that truly make a big difference in someone else’s life. I loved the responses once they started really thinking about it. I did forewarn them that this will be a question every week so they need to come prepared to discuss.
I often find that the conversations that I have on a daily basis with many of you can give me the mental push I need to move in a certain direction. You may not even know it, but you are sharing your “gifts” with me in this little way. For example, I had a lovely discussion with Rayne tonight, and she shared this little gem with me. She asked me “If you had $1,000,000 dollars in the bank and someone stole $10 would you throw the rest away out of anger and frustration?” Of course I answered “NO” because really what kind of fool would do that? She then went on to share, but we do it every day when someone is negative or awful to us for 10 minutes; we throw away our good attitude for the rest of the day. Hmm….made me stop and think. Why do we allow this to happen? We definitely have control over our attitudes; maybe not anyone else’s, but definitely our own. So, this week I challenge you to make sure the “gift” you are sharing is a positive one that is helping someone on their path as that is the only gift worth giving.
“Make space in your life for the things that matter, for family and friends, love and generosity, fun and joy. Without this, you will burn out in mid-career and wonder where your life went.” ~ Jonathan Sacks
