thankful thursday

Today I am feeling grateful for TALENTS. Talents of all kinds...everything from physical talents, such as being able to play a musical instrument or being an athletic person to those hidden talents such as the ability to lift others and make them feel like a million bucks.

I had two experiences yesterday that made me grateful for these things...

#1:

Growing up, I took piano lessons for years and years. At times I loved it and other times, I hated it. Yesterday I realized I didn't fully appreciate this opportunity I had to develop a talent that could be a lifetime benefit to me and my future family.

For some reason, the past couple of months I have had this little thought in the back of my mind, that pokes and prods at me every so often... and most often on Sundays. For some reason, I have felt like I should try to find opportunities to be able to play the piano again. Growing up, I always had a piano in my home and thru my years of practice and lessons, I got to the point I could sit down and sight read any hymn and play it almost perfectly. I went away to college and never had a piano in my home, and I rarely, if ever played. And now, my piano is in storage because there is no room in my folks house (my temporary residence) for a piano, so my skills have gotten quite rusty...so rusty that I can't sit down and play the hymns anymore.

The other day I was talking to my friend, Ami (our ward music coordinator) and she expressed to me how difficult it is to find people who are willing to do musical numbers and/or play the piano in our ward. Well, I found myself telling her if she ever needed someone, I'd be willing to step up to the plate. She was ecstatic and told me she was going to hold me to it. So I went to Deseret Book last night, found a book with a couple different primary song arrangements and went to the church and played for a while...and even though I was VERY rusty, I had such a great time, just sitting at the piano, doing my best to pick out the beautiful arrangements of a few of my very favorite primary songs. More than anything, I wished so badly I hadn't let my talent and ability to play get so rusty.

So I made a commitment to myself and even verbally said it to a friend last night...I'm going to find ways to develop and nurture this talent again. Our Relief Society is in dire need of a pianist, so I may even volunteer to be the pianist, forcing me to pick 2 hymns a week and master them. It's a funny little goal...but one that for some reason, I feel is important.

"Some of us are too content with what we may already be doing. We stand back in the 'eat, drink, and be merry' mode when opportunities for growth and development abound. We miss opportunities to build up the kingdom of God because we have the passive notion that someone else will take care of it. The Lord tells us that He will give more to those who are willing. They will be magnified in their efforts, like the little blue engine as it pulled the train up the mountain. But to those who say, 'We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.' (2 Nephi 28:30)

The Lord entrusts all of His servants, including every priesthood holder, with spiritual talents. The Lord, who endows us with these talents, tells us: 'I believe you can. I believe you can.' While we are not all equal in experience, aptitude, and strength, we have different opportunities to employ these spiritual gifts, and we will all be accountable for the use of the gifts and opportunities given to us."

(President James E. Faust, 'I Believe I Can, I Knew I Could', October 2002)

#2

A couple of my friends and I took a day trip to Kirkham Hot Springs yesterday. While there, a group of three people showed up, who were complete strangers to the rest of us. One was a girl named April. She immediately walked up to us, introduced herself, and started chatting with us. The first thing she did was stick out her hand and ask our names. When she shook my hand and my friend Tiffany's hand, the first thing out of her mouth was, "Wow, you girls are beautiful!" (Now, remember Tiff and I were soaking wet, with hair completely slicked back, and no makeup on...and in our swimsuits...and what girl is completely confident in her swimsuit???) She then continued to talk to us, ask us questions about where we were from and what we did. She was a very kind and sincere person and was so easy to talk to. When we got back to the car, our friend Dean said to Tiff and I, "That girl gave you two quite the compliment." And he was right. We ended up talking about that simple act and what a kind and sincere person she seemed to be. I was grateful for April's innate talent of being friendly and making two complete strangers feel just a bit better about themselves yesterday. I hope I can learn to be more like April.

"There is something of divinity within each of you. You have such tremendous potential with that quality as a part of your inherited nature. Every one of you was endowed by your Father in Heaven with a tremendous capacity to do good in the world. Train your minds and your hands that you may be equipped to serve well in the society of which you are a part.

Cultivate the art of being kind, of being thoughtful, of being helpful. Refine within you the quality of mercy which comes as a part of the divine attributes you have inherited.

Some of you may feel that you are not as attractive and beautiful and glamorous as you would like to be. Rise above any such feelings, cultivate the light you have within you, and it will shine through as a radiant expression that will be seen by others. You need never feel inferior. You need never feel that you were born without talents or without opportunities to give them expression. Cultivate whatever talents you have, and they will grow and refine and become an expression of your true self appreciated by others.

In summary, try a little harder to measure up to the divine within each of you. As Alma said, "Awake and arouse your faculties" (Alma 32:27)."

(President Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Light Within You", May 1995)