My three-year-old grandson shares his talents with joyful abandon. He draws pictures and invents songs. He eagerly helps his parents or grandparents with projects. He expresses his opinions and shares his silly ideas.
We grown-ups were like that, once upon a time. We made imperfect creations, we let our imaginations fly, and we loved to “help” even when we weren’t very good at it. We were unashamed to share our authentic selves and our budding talents with others.
Unfortunately, somewhere in the intervening years most of us have lost the generous spirit with which our three-year-old selves shared our creations, talents, and ideas with others.
And our world is the poorer for it.
When we’re stingy with our talents, everyone loses
Stinginess stifles our growth. When we’re afraid to make mistakes, we limit our ability to grow and develop new skills. When we play it safe and keep our ideas and creative output to ourselves, we miss out on encouragement and positive feedback that would help us improve.
Stinginess steals our joy. When we let our fear of what others think keep us from creating with abandon or offering our services, we stifle the very things that bring us joy.
Stinginess limits the difference we can make in the world. God placed us on this planet at this time to use our unique combination of gifts, personality, and ideas to impact those around us. We never know when a simple action, kind word, or lovingly made item will be exactly what somebody else needs.
If you want to make a difference, you need to share your talents and ideas
My grandmother was generous with her talents. She sent cards decorated with her sketches, sewed gifts for family or church bazaars, planted flowerbeds in the town square. She added a touch of beauty wherever she could, from an artfully arranged vase of wildflowers to a lovingly prepared family dinner.
Her family and her neighbors were the richer for her efforts.
Our world needs people like my grandmother, who share their creative talents freely. Unfortunately, most of us are afraid to do so. In the past, our efforts have been ridiculed, judged, and rejected. So we’ve pulled back, out of fear.
Here’s some advice for overcoming three common fears that may be keeping you from sharing your talents as generously as you could.
We don’t share our talents because we fear ridicule
When I was a girl, I loved to draw. Then a second-grade classmate told me my drawings weren’t any good. I allowed that bit of criticism to ruin my enjoyment of drawing.
We all face ridicule from time to time. There will always be critical people, ready with harsh words. But we don’t need to let their opinions ruin our joy and stifle our potential.
If you want to overcome your fear of ridicule, you need to find safe people with whom you can begin to share your efforts. When you are with supportive friends, you can begin to venture your opinions, show off your creations, or share your dreams.
As supportive friends affirm us and encourage us to develop our skills, we can grow confident enough to risk sharing our efforts with wider and wider circles.
We’re afraid our efforts aren’t good enough
Part of my second-grade drawing crisis occurred because I compared my drawings to someone else’s and decided I didn’t measure up. I started to believe my drawings weren’t good enough, and that morphed into believing I wasn’t any good at drawing.
Comparison can destroy our joy, our confidence, and our purpose. If we look for it, we can always find somebody whose talents are better than ours.
The strongest antidote for worrying about others’ opinions is to remember that you are a beloved child of God. He treasures you and he sees all your efforts. You are good enough in his eyes.
One strategy to overcome the comparison trap is to focus on your motivation rather than your final result. Think about how your efforts will brighten someone’s day, make them see a situation a little differently, or give them the extra help they needed.
Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
Henry van Dyke
We don’t believe our talents or ideas matter
Sometime we feel too untalented and insignificant to matter.
Think of all the people whose creative talents have enriched your life, from the crafter who made the wreath hanging on your door to the designer who gave your new car its sleek look. Think of all the people who have inspired you with their songs, novels, films, or podcasts.
You never met these people, yet they’ve enriched your life.
Now remember all those who gave you exactly the word of encouragement you needed at a critical time. They played an important part in your life, whether they knew it at the time or not.
Let their efforts inspire you, and trust that God will use your talents to benefit others, too. If Jesus used five small loaves of bread and a few fish to feed thousands of people, he can use your efforts, no matter how insignificant they seem to you.
Will you join me in deciding to share your talents this week?
I want to be like my grandmother, always generous with my talents, ideas, and creative efforts—even the less than perfect ones.
How about you?
Will you dare to share your talents, or will you play it safe and rob the world of the beauty and innovation you have the potential to bring to it?
Originally posted Mar 21, 2017. Updated May 21, 2024.
