Okay! it will be awesome if you read ‘Part I’….

Before we go any further into Part II, let’s have a chit-chat. How are you doing? How has your week been? How’s the summer break going? And those of us that don’t get to have a summer break: how’s work? I do care about your wellbeing, you know! I do pray for all my readers, that all goes well with y’all. And I’m sure God hears.

The Part I of this post focused more on emotions. But part II is focusing on ‘Talents/gifts’.

I’m happy to say that I’ve not met anyone who has said to me: ‘Princess, you know I’ve no talent’. Well, my response would be- ‘Tufiakwa!! Isi gini??’ [Igbo for ‘God forbid! You said what?’]. Lol.

I believe it’s no news to say everyone has talents/gifts, it’s possible that a person who thinks otherwise hasn’t discovered his/hers yet. I think one of the factors killing people’s talent is the ‘I want yours’ syndrome.

You see, in this day and age where we have social media and the likes, everything is on showcase. You don’t know who will see your handwork and will be interested in working with you. But on the flip side, there are people who see the display of so-and-so’s talent as a reason to stay ‘underground’. Why? Because ‘I don’t have A’s talent, I don’t have anything then‘. First mistake!

There is nothing similar when it comes to your talent with that of person B. There is something unique about you that cannot be found in person B. Unfortunately, you cannot get to see all that through social media. I feel we have come to a path where we have taken our eyes off our portions and placed them on the portion of others, and in that same way, buried the one we have. Does that ring a bell? Matthew 25:14-30- the parable of the talents.

Please feel free to correct me, if I am wrong. But smiling should pass off as a talent [or is a talent], right? I mean, have you seen some faces that when your eyes happen to stumble on them, you recollect all the past miseries that may never have existed in your life before, but the misery written all over this person’s face is capable of implanting one in your past immediately. And then you think, ‘Oh! there’s nothing special about my smile’. What!!! Have you met ‘person misery’? Do you know the effect of the smile on a passerby? The hope that comes with seeing you smile every time? You can call me weird, it’s okay. Personally, I feel giving compliments can be categorised as a talent as well. Some people cannot do it, not that it is impossible to do it, it could just be that it’s one gift they’ve chosen not to nurture.

So what’s my point, we need to start dealing with the ‘I want yours’ syndrome, because it blindfolds. And there is a detrimental end, as seen in Matthew 25:30. Have you ever though of this: ‘if everyone had the same talent won’t we be bored? where will the body of Christ come from?’ There’s a reason you have that ‘supposed little talent’. There’s one thing we seem to miss out, while we keep wishing we have the other person’s talent and keep doing nothing with ours, the other fellow’s talent keeps increasing while you end up with none; because the one you had, you buried instead of nurturing.

Another factor that is killing talents is the ‘I must arrive’ syndrome. In other words, I must be financially and

famously [in terms of fame] comfortable before I make use of this gift/talent I have. We seem to forget that there is no better time than now [except in cases where there has been an instruction from above] but still, I believe that there still exists an ‘unseen’ work that takes place even in the ‘quiet season’. A good example is Joseph.  But waiting to have all the Pounds Sterling, Dollars, Limelight, Exposure before you make a move is as good as burying the talent, because no one knows tomorrow.

C’mon! Have you seen the news lately? Ebola, BokoHaram, Missing Planes, Plane Crashes, Son killing mother, Father killing daughter and all sorts. And you don’t think Jesus is coming soon? And you are waiting to ‘arrive’ before your talent goes to work? Nah! Wrong move…How about doing a test-run for the time being? Your family! Friends! Colleagues! Church Members! Neighbourhood! if you ask me that’s fame already at your footstep. Lol.

Personally, I think when your mindset is right i.e ‘my talent is to bring glory to God, help another, feed me and the rest’, then ‘you will arrive’ as God will have you arrive. But let the ‘I must arrive’ syndrome not take preeminence.

To add to ‘I must arrive’ syndrome, is the ‘I have arrived’ syndrome. I have arrived syndrome is existent when the use of your talents has no modification, no increase, juste la meme chose [just the same thing]. Complacency becomes the order of the day. This is as destructive as the other two syndromes because everyday, something new is born, and if we are not keeping up, we could find ourselves down the ladder chilling with the stench of complacency. Nah! We don’t want to find ourselves there, do we? So, there’s always more that can be done. It could mean developing the other ‘minor’ talent you have.

As usual, this is me, talking to myself but screaming out loud for you to hear [not screaming at you, but shouting out loud, so that you can hear me]. Let me say this……

Before I started this blog, I said to myself: ‘What’s the use putting up an inspirational blog, when there are so many around?’ But now, I’m just glad that the push I needed, I got. Because one thing I’ve come to understand is that: God gives you your own crowd of influence, you either do the little necessary and it increases, or you do nothing and it decreases. You always have a choice!  The truth is I’m blessed when I see even if it’s just one view, because I know I’m using what God has given me and someone has been blessed. Don’t get me wrong, I wish for more traffic [that time will come], but I cannot afford to wait for more traffic to not make use of my gift [to encourage] while it is day, because night is coming when no one can work. John 9 vs 4.

So my lovelies, what’s in your hand? and what are you doing with it or them? Please share your own ‘Talent killing factors’

P.S: Oh! And while I’m looking for ways to make this blog better [please feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments section], I’m also going after Tyler Perry. Lol. You remember why, right? Check here to find out  Also, I’m honoured and humbled to say that I’m part of the Global Prayer Partners with the Word in Season Ministry [WISM]. Please feel free to send me an email [pradake16@gmail.com] if you’ve any prayer requests. It will be an honour to love you with prayer, as the Bible commands us to do in James 5:16 and  as Sister Kanayo of www.doctorkanayo.com has been propagating!

Keep Shining, you’ve all you need.

Chinomnso Precious!