How to be gifted

We've all seen those people - the gifted ones. The ones who can do everything well. The ones who can do six things so well, that we'd give our right arm to do any one of things like that.

For me, in college it was Dave Jorgensen. The dude was smart. This was very important to a bunch of college kids struggling through the civil engineering program with me. This was a guy who was so smart, he could have class discussions explained to him by another one of my friends who went to class, then they would both go take the test, and Dave would do better than the friend who explained everything to him. Yeah. Annoyingly smart!

He was athletic. He could play racquetball so much better than any of the rest of my crowd. It seemed that the race was always to second place, because we figured out very quickly that Dave was unbeatable.

He had the face. He had the muscles. He got the girls. For me, I learned that school was a very basic existence: you lived your life hoping for grades and dates. That's it. Most of the time, I didn't feel like I could even reach that bar. Dave did it without even breathing hard.

He had no guile. He was spiritual, and was developing his relationship with the Savior well at that young age. I have no doubt that in the decades since I knew him, he has been in many leadership positions. It was impossible not to love the guy.

How does one guy get so many of the gifts? Why is there no even distribution of gifts?

If you've read many of my previous blogs, you know I'm about gifts. I've come to realize that everything is a gift. Even right now, on my desk there is a stinky set of orthotics for my shoes (unsanitary, right?), a couple of pens, a solo cup that used to contain this morning's green shake breakfast, a bill, a bottle of lavender, and my scriptures. I've come to learn that they are all gifts - except perhaps the bill. I suppose that it represents a gift.

So when you're not Dave - what then? When your belly pops out further than your toes, and you can almost get off the ground when you jump. When you lack charisma and sometimes wonder if you're invisible. When your family isn't as close as you wish it were. When you feel spiritually stagnant, and can see that you're definitely older than five years ago. What about us then? Are we still relevant? Does God still remember us? Are we still relevant to him?

I ran across Doctrine & Covenants 11 today. The Lord answered my question. Now, as a forewarning, I see things through the lens of gifts from Father. Here's what I saw.

5: Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive
8: Verily, verily, I say unto you, even as you desire of it so it shall be done unto you; and if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation
10: Behold, thou hast a gift, or thou shalt have a gift if thou wilt desire of me in faith; with an honest heart, believing in the power of Jesus Christ, or in my power which speaketh unto thee
14: And then shall ye know, or by this shall you know, all things whatsoever you desire of me, which are pertaining unto things of righteousness, in faith believing in me that you shall receive.

There's the answer! True to the usual methods I've learned about from the Lord, it's a very short recipe. Here it is: if you really want it, the Lord will give it to you. That simple.

We could go deeper and dig into what it means to really want it, but I'll leave that to you. I don't want to pollute the message. How to be gifted? Ask for gifts from the Lord.

Gifts are also responsibilities. As I've mentioned before, if I give my grandson a toy truck, I hope that he will play with it - not bury it in the back yard. What I give him next depends to a great extent on what he does with the toy truck.

One last story. I joined the church choir a few months ago. Bear in mind that this is not because I have any singing gifts - it's because I'm fascinated with music. I can't read notes, and am just learning my range. I had never sung in public before, and still can't bring myself to sing privately if anyone else is in the house.

I sang for the ward in the choir yesterday - I knew I was behind, and I didn't know the song. I knew the only way I wouldn't be embarrassed with my results was to plead with the Lord - to ask him to get me further down the path with those songs than I was. I'm very grateful to have received that gift.

He's not holding back on gifts we want: we are. We are holding back on ourselves. May we allow ourselves to be more gifted as we move forward. He's waiting to help us.

Fasting ain't fast at all

So I'm reading along and found Doctrine and Covenants 59. I felt that there was something in there, but the gem eluded me. What is it on that chunk of the page that I was missing? Where was the gem that I kept passing? I wasn't seeing it.

The chapter talks about fasting, and what the blessings are. It talks about the gifts of the earth, and how we're called to appreciate them and use them well. 

This can't be the gem. When I was little, I used to loathe fast sunday because, well, I'd starve. There was one day when as a teenager, I couldn't make it. I (on sunday) drove to the local McDonalds. I had to get something in my gut! I felt bad breaking my fast, but it was worth it I thought. I felt bad doing it on a Sunday, because we're not supposed to make others work on a Sunday. All that said, I was starving! So I pull up the local McD, and go in for a small burger. I don't remember if I ordered the small burger to minimize the purchase, or because a small burger was all I could afford, but I think it was probably a bit of conscience. If I contribute minimally to the profit margin, that's less motivation for the business to stay open on Sunday, right? 

It was logic that worked for me at the time.

So that's me. That's my background. Fasting is painful. It's denial of what you want. It's starving so you can prove to yourself that you can. There's an element of spirit over body, but mostly it's always felt like, well, like "ugh". 

And now back to the current day. Doctrine and Covenants 59:14. "Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer". 

Now sometimes the Lord hides key words in deep corners, and you have to search for the key meanings. He allows you to search deep in the caverns, and hands you those golden eggs when you hunt far enough to find them. At those times, both the golden egg and the successful hunt become very rewarding.

This is not really one of those times.

The Lord very clearly substituted fasting for rejoicing. What? How? I don't get it! I don't rejoice when I fast - I usually starve. Whatever the Lord meant, that message doesn't click with me. Unless it's meant to. Unless that's why I was drawn to this part of the page in this chapter. 

Why would rejoicing and fasting be the same? Because we remind ourselves that it doesn't all just come naturally because we're breathing? To remind ourselves that those things we eat, wear, or use are blessings from our Father? That egg, or piece of toast isn't just something we mindlessly eat because it's there, and it fills the gut while we're doing something else - it's a gift. It originates from mother earth, which originates from our God. 

It's a time to appreciate not only the bowl of cereal, but our clothing, the wood on the floor we're standing on, the roof above our heads. The water we can drink, even that light bulb! How many gifts of God does that light bulb represent? The glass, the filament, the power, the technology, the list could go on. Those small things we forget? Those are gifts to us, and there is reason to celebrate them.

So if I'm understanding that my bowl of cheerios is a gift, and that I'm surrounded by other gifts, and I can see them now because I'm not taking one of them for granted (for a day at least), then I'm grateful. And if I'm grateful for each of the 1000+ gifts around me in any given room? I guess that's rejoicing.

May we all rejoice in the "small" gifts that surround us. May we defeat the body with our spirit. May we not just survive that day, but grow our spirits and our gratitude in the same way that a mushroom cloud expands. These are gifts our Father can provide - but only if we allow Him to provide them.