Gifts Given to Share

My oldest two children took piano lessons when then were younger. In fact, it was because my oldest wanted to learn to play so badly that we purchased a piano. He would use it for practice during his few years of lessons, and then my daughter took up the instrument. After a few years of lessons for each, restlessness set in and a type of indifference took over. The lessons and the practicing came to an end.

My youngest had not expressed much interest in piano when he was younger. Then when he was a teenager, he asked for lessons. He began to play and now he plays even for fun and to relax. When his siblings try to play, they are stuck with the truth that those days are gone and since they gave it up years ago, they can no longer really play. In many ways, they were given a gift, but since they did not use and cultivate it, they lost it.

God gives us gifts every day and we too often act like those gifts will simply always be there. The truth is, unlike God Himself, many of those gifts are not eternal. If we fail to acknowledge them and put them to use, we risk losing them in the end. What a shame. What gifts might be slowly slipping away from each of us due to our lack of interest and indifference? They might not be there if and when we change our minds.

— Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS