Are Your Gifts Collecting Dust?

 

 

We have all received them... gifts that just sit on the shelf.  At first glance of the gift, we excitingly tear open the item with anticipation of the contents.  We awe in sheer delight of our new item and feel on top of the world - for one week.  The high passes.  A new adventure ushers in.  What once was treasured collects dust. 

Are you there? Are the "adventures" and distractions of life causing you to set your gifts aside? Do you find yourself thinking "one day" I will get back to that? To be completely transparent with you, I am currently finding myself at this place.  I have gifts that God has given me and while I used them years ago, I put them in storage for awhile.  I convinced myself that it was perfectly ok and almost godly to do so because other priorities needed to be taken care of first.  Bills need to be paid, meals need to be cooked, our (teenage) girls need to be educated & transported, quality time needs to be invested in relationships, groceries need to be purchased, hair needs to be colored :)... need I say more? Now, there priorities definitely need to be taken care of ~ but I usually tend to neglect myself along the way.  Exercise, proper diet, quality time with God, fun time, and my giftings ~ all collect dust on this destructive road.  Eventually I throw my own pity party & inform everyone what I "do" for them.  Desperate and tired? YES.  Godly and mature? NO.  Like I said, I am offering transparency here.  I believe I am not the only mother that has traveled this road. 

So you may wonder why I write this.  Well, I am at a crossroads you could say.  I turned 40 this year and am finding myself at a place of discovering myself again ~ blowing dust off discarded gifts to unveil diamonds in the rough.  Now, that is not to say the number "40" caused this revelation... it has been a series of happenings in my life.  But, as I was in my unhappy place whining to the Lord a few nights ago, He convicted me that I am not being a good steward with what He has given me.  Often times, I have chosen to sulk and crawl into a hole instead of using that time to proactively use what He has given me.  I have given the enemy a foothold to withhold what God may have in store.  What about you? Can you relate? God has uniquely wired you with gifts and talents to be used in furthering His kingdom... to draw people to Him.  It is our worship unto Him and our "Pay It Forward" in gratefulness for all that He is! If you find yourself at this place, I challenge you to dig for those gifts in the clutter of life and use them to bless someone on your path.  You just never know what God intends for them!