I have been thinking about the use of gifts and talents that God has given each of us. I have also been contemplating how we are to utilize these same gifts. When I created these two pieces I was struggling with a couple of oposing views: money and treasure. Sounds similar, but in all actuallity are quite different. Many times I feel that I have missed opportunities of various types due to the fact that my focus was on making money. Money, one of those things I realize is a necessity, but can become more of an obsession. Not that I want to make more for the sake of making more, I just want to get back to zero. Debt free or at least a reasonable amount.
Anyway, the dark, money focused person, which I can be at times, is focused on the use of the gift (whatever that may be) with just themselves in mind. The other side is the person who can balance that out with an eye on how the gift can be used for others. I am sure that I am not the only one who has this "push-pull" type of relationship with the use of a gift. Not that it is by anymeans wrong to use your gifts and talents to make money, to make a living...duh, that is not the point. I am talking about when the use of the gift for the benefit of others is lost or burried. I call this the we and me type of view.... more to think about.
1 comment:
This post reminds me of similar questions and conflicts with my own gifts. Some of what I have discovered for myself through the process: a focus on using my gifts for the sole purpose of making money leaves me with something empty and soul-less. Setting my sights on using my gifts to touch others' lives often results in something that feels forced, falling short of the potential. On the other hand (this is the third one, now, isn't it?), when I can take a step back, get out of the driver's seat, and allow my gifts to flow from the source, there is benefit to others and myself (including financial reward).
Not that I will ever stop asking the questions, especially the ones about using my gifts to make a difference in this world....and sometimes I think we don't always get to know exactly what impact we have.
By the way, I found your blog after visiting Rushville yesterday and seeing a poster (which I greatly admired and would love to add to my collection of such ephemera)for your show.
All the best to you...with your show, your work, and the blog! I look forward to visiting again.
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