January 10, 2024 “Dude! You can sing!” I don’t get to sit next to my son, Jake, in church often. Now 16, he’s been an altar server since he was in third grade. Even if we attend funerals or weddings in a church, he typically offers to serve. Jake enjoys serving. He’d much rather serve than attend Mass sitting in a pew. But every once in a while, we enjoy visiting other parishes and attending Mass with friends or going to visit priests we know around the region. When we’re visiting other parishes, Jake doesn’t always get to serve. It was during one such Mass that I heard Jake sing. He sings beautifully! But other than singing very quietly at Mass and singing in an occasional car concert as we rock out with the radio, Jake doesn’t sing. He doesn’t sing in the school chorus. He doesn’t participate in choirs or school musicals. I’ve sort of been nagging him about this a bit, encouraging him to participate in some musical endeavor. “You really want me to do be in a school musical, don’t you?” “Not necessarily,” I responded. “I just wish you’d find some way to use that talent. It feels to me like you’re wasting a gift God gave you.” That conversation got me thinking about how I use the gifts God has given me. I don’t always use them in the best ways. For example, God gave me a love of language, and talents in writing and communicating. While I sometimes use those talents in His service, I can also use them to cut people down or to angrily hurt others. And there are talents and gifts I probably don’t even know I’ve been given because my fears and insecurities prevent me from trying some new things. “It feels to me like you’re wasting a gift God gave you.” I’m trying to be more aware of how I use the gifts God has given me. I’m praying God helps me see them and use them well. I don’t want them to go to waste. |
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