A compass

So I'm on a quest for learning about gifts of the Spirit - it's topical guide time. I've done the section on the Book of Mormon - I do love reading in there, it's just entertaining to me. But today is a work day: time for the precision that comes with the Doctrine and Covenants.

What I found may just be a road map for my life moving forward as relates to my focus on gifts. It's in D&C 6.

10 Behold thou hast a gift, and blessed art thou because of thy gift. Remember it is sacred and cometh from above. 11 And if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, convince them of the error of their ways. 12 Make not thy gift known unto any save it be those who are of thy faith. Trifle not with sacred things.

The Lord may have been referring at the time to Joseph's gift to translate the Book of Mormon, or it may have been something else, but one of the gems here is that the wording is so precise that it applies to any gift. It could be about someone's gift of music.

I mention music first because when a person is considered gifted here, it usually refers to music skills. But there is so much more. The gift may be the ability to speak or write - gifts I'm working on. They may be gifts of healing, or of love, or of being able to connect with those who are wayward. I met someone with that gift last week. The gift may be the ability to see forward, prophecy, wisdom, compassion, or the ability to communicate with the Lord more directly or with his angels. I believe that the number of gifts that are possible are endless, and the extent that they can be developed is also infinite.

To illustrate a bit further, let's take music. Someone could have the gift of singing, in all its many forms. Or they could have a gift with a guitar - considering the many kinds of guitars there are out there. Or the piano. Or music production. Or teaching music theory. Or the gift to write music in all its forms. You get the idea.

So as I look at this scripture, I am reminded not to discount my gifts. Not to assume I'm awesome because I've developed a gift to whatever level - with God's help. Not to count the number of gifts I have versus someone else like it was a tally sheet. If I begin to assume that the greatest number of chalk marks wins, I lose - and the world around me does as well.

When the Lord says "Make not thy gift known unto any save it be those who are of thy faith. Trifle not with sacred things" I understand that those who are of my faith are not just fellow saints, but those who struggle with me to develop their gifts. And I'm reminded again that comparing with a gift tally is to trifle with sacred things. I think the Lord was pretty direct. That's a very clear sentence about what not to do. Remind me not to mess with that ever again.

"Behold thou hast a gift, and blessed art thou". And blessed are we all. May we seek earnestly to find and develop our gifts, that we can report confidently to the Lord at judgment day. That we can stand and affirm to the Lord that we have found our purpose, and became our own kind of greatness, and returned to the Lord his gifts plus the interest he expects from us. May we all do so.