No power can take it away

Not sure why the subjects of gifts is so powerful to me, but it does bring out a lot of interesting knowledge. Sometimes that information is related to gifts, sometimes it's not - but I love finding the little easter eggs filled with spiritual gems.

This time it's in Doctrine and Covenants 8, verses 8 through 10. But first it comes with a phrase that drew me. The "gift of Aaron" was mentioned in verse 7. I hadn't heard of this term, and it intrigued me. I had some knowledge that Aaron went before Moses, and that he was a better speaker. He spoke on behalf of his brother.

I didn't research to verify this, but from the back corners of my brain I think I remember that Moses objected when he was called of God to be prophet. He said something like "but I don't speak very well". That's funny, because we're all inadequate for whatever callings we get - and that's of course completely irrelevant. Whatever gifts and traits we have are why he called us. Or maybe he wants us to grow - nobody knows - but what counts for Moses is that he was enough. He was enough with the Lord's help, and by not relying on just himself, to be a game changer for the Lord.

One of the Lord's other servants that he relied on was his brother Aaron. The guy who could speak better. I did a small amount of research on what the meaning was of "Aaron's gift", and found what I believe to be gibberish about his stick. His gift was his ability to speak. This is something I identify with.

You might have figured out that I write sometimes. I record - a lot - and have hundreds of videos and more hundreds of podcasts. I write blogs, I write and publish articles. I've written a number of books - five of them. I seem to have a passion for writing/speaking/communicating, and I've seen my skills grow and feel good about developing my gifts in that arena. This is pretty unusual for a guy who is certifiable as a nerd and engineer. Us engineers don't write - we math. We design. We logic. We hang out with other nerds. Writing is the painful thing you gotta do when you're done programming the computer or running data.

But I'm grateful for this gift, and can't say how much I enjoy the journey. My gratitude cannot be well stated, but I am grateful to be able to describe so many concepts that were not possible for me before.

The gift of Aaron, to me, is the gift of speech. Of communicating clearly and powerfully, plainly. The gift to present ideas clearly, and when appropriate, with the power of God behind the words. I certainly make no pretense as to being anywhere near as powerful as many of the Lord's leaders I hear regularly, but they have other gifts and callings. I'm grateful that my little voice from the corner is blessed.

So the gift of Aaron? That's my gift. I feel a bit special because one of my gifts is specifically mentioned in this way. The Lord doesn't usually speak in such specifics, so I'm glad my gift, similar to Aaron's in some ways, is mentioned. This makes verses 8 through 10 more powerful to me.

"8 Therefore, doubt not, for it is the gift of God; and you shall hold it in your hands, and do marvelous works; and no power shall be able to take it away out of your hands, for it is the work of God"

Dang. No power can take it away - at least not human power. I could be tortured. I could be ridiculed, starved, whatever. As long as I don't take the gift away from myself, it's mine. That's awesome.

"Doubt not, for it is the gift of God". How often do we take our gifts away from ourselves by ignoring or starving out the gifts we have? How cool is it to know you have a particular gift, and know it so well that you can hold it in your hands, and appreciate its presence, and feel gratitude to the giver of the gift? How fun is it to see a gift grow and help fill in the holes, corners and gaps of what a person can become?

8-9: "And, therefore, whatsoever you shall ask me to tell you by that means, that I will grant unto you, and you shall have knowledge concerning it. Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith. Trifle not with these things; do not ask for that which you ought not."

It occurs to me that we all have our gifts, some discovered, some developed, some ignored, some buried. But the Lord is I think most likely to communicate with us through the gifts we have, rather than hand us a different one because the ones we have, which are undeveloped, are not getting the communication done.

May we all commit to the ultimate adventure: discovering who we are. Personally. To find out how the Lord sees us, what gifts he has ready for us, to know what we are and what we can become. Speaking from my puny personal experience, it's a lot of fun.