Effective Lighting: Flute Solo (VIDEOS)

#ShareGoodness

My dorm building is built a little oddly. The first floor opens up into a lobby past the office, and the second floor contains a mezzanine. The mezzanine has windows that actually look out over the lobby, allowing anyone who doesn't want to join the party downstairs to at least watch it.

So, last night, my Family Home Evening group and I were minding our own business, doing how we do, when all of a sudden, a window opened up on the mezzanine, and out popped one of my residents.

Ironically, even though I named my post 'Effective Lighting' (referring to the spiritual side of things), I continued to demonstrate my horrible photography skills through this ineffective lighting. Yay!

He retrieved his guitar and proceeded to sing a hilarious, ad-libbed song, interestingly about me, right in front of a good-sized crowd. It is not my first instinct to pull out my phone to capture whatever moment is happening, but I had the foresight in the last couple of seconds, thankfully.

My resident's enthusiastic determination to shine his light, to display the talent the Lord had given him,  got me thinking about my own light. I've had several opportunities to share my talents and abilities recently, chiefly through my blog, occasionally with my own musical talent, even rarely through my novel(s), and therefore received several compliments.

As I've thought about it, though, I realize I don't do a great job, even in my own mind, in giving praise to God when I am complimented. Someone tells me I'm a good writer, and I say, "Thanks!" and think, I'm doing a good job! Rarely do I say, "Thanks to God I am!" and think, Thanks, Heavenly Father!

Now obviously, the reason why any of us have any talent at all is usually because we exercise our agency to work on our talents. I'm not saying the talent I or anyone else demonstrates is only due to God controlling those gifts like a puppeteer. However, I am saying that I know He helps us when we do attempt to develop or gain a new skill. He does that not only because He loves us, but also because He wants us to use our talents to bring more people unto Him.

So, my challenge today, mostly for myself, is to do a better job speaking of God when my light is shining, in attributing the small success I have to Him. I think, when I'm able to do that without thinking, my ability to be a force for good will grow even more. 

And with that, take us away with a flute solo!