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.