Do You Know Your Divinely-Given Gifts?

I really love some of the thinking attributed to Mother Theresa. I have reflected on this today – I adapt it a bit for my readers of many faith backgrounds.

“The only thing that can remove poverty is sharing. To use the gifts that God has given to people who have, to share with those who have not.”

It has only been in my later years that I have begun to accept the gifts I have been given that are meant for sharing. I think as a younger person I only was aware of what other people seemed to have as strengths, and I only saw what I lacked. What a waste. What a spiritually dismissive stand to take.

Let’s look at what I believe to be a concept of my spiritual philosophy: God gives everyone gifts.

Quaker faith speaks to “that of God in everyone.” This is not unlike some translations of the greeting, “Namaste” referring to the meaning, the divine in me bows to the divine in you. The idea is that there is that of the Divine in each of us – therefore, it is in you.

How can you recognize the gift that has been given to you? Have you been looking for the gifts given to you? You might ask yourself, what are you really good at doing? What brings you most joy? What do you long for? What do you do continually by repeating it? Or are you hiding your gifts beneath an outer shield that keeps anyone from seeing the divine within you?