Upon my departure from Port Antonio a week back or so, I received a going away gift from the Galloway family. It was a pair of concrete eagles, which they formed by carving out a mold of sorts in a wooden plank and pouring the solution inside. Unfortunately, they've already proven quite fragile, breaking several times in transit.
Well, I foolishly left one of these eagles on the floor near my brother and I's closet. As I was eating my breakfast, bro came down and confessed that he'd broken another piece off.
My initial reaction was to breathe in through my teeth, that universal sign of displeasure. Of course, I quickly recognized that getting upset was silly, considering my poor choice of placement and how easy it is to break those things. I told bro he had nothing to worry about.
Well, in talking with him later in the day, I learned bro was still feeling guilty about the incident, not really believing I didn't have any beef with him. I suspect that, had I not succumbed to my initial anger and expressed that immediate disappointment, I might have saved him a lot of worry and grief. I'm sure the Savior's first reaction would have been forgiveness, not displeasure.
Most of the family was out of the house today, either in body or mind. With the time I had to myself, I was able to exercise some talents I haven't been able to in a while, beginning the process of editing my journal, pulling out some old Ukelele songs, and even dabbling in a little digital artistry. As I enjoyed exercising these beloved talents of mine, I was again struck by just how blessed I am to have any talents at all, much less the cornucopia with which God has blessed me.
I was pondering how, while I've always had an interest in the things I'm now good at, I wasn't really born with too many natural gifts and abilities. Every single ability I've gained, whether it be writing, singing, or something as simple as obedience, has been exercised like the weakest of muscles. I suppose that if I'd never spent any time slaving over sentence structures, or doodling in math class, or determining beforehand that I wanted to be like Christ, none of my talents, temporal, spiritual, or otherwise, would be at hand. Now that I'm a little more focused in reaching my final goal, I want to continually seek ways to use these talents I've practiced to help uplift and encourage those around me.
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