I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about the question “What is the greatest gift that you can give the world?”… And as puzzling and complex that question may be, it is also inspiring and impelling.

I’ve spent a lot of my life wondering what my gifts were. What talents God has given me and what I could do to use those gifts to help others around me. I’m a firm believer that we are all here for a reason. In this moment in time. And after all the years of pondering what the reason is that I am here, I can honestly say I’m still not 100% sure. Gasp! Big shocker I know! 😉 Yes, I have things that I am good at and I have things that I am still trying to get right. But, what is my greatest gift that I can offer this world…

The issue that I have with this greatest gift thinking is it’s suggesting that whatever you have to offer, it must be the greatest! What if what I have to offer now isn’t what I know I am capable of offering in the future- I’m just not there yet. In fact I’ve had so many failures in my gift that I have fervently questioned if it’s even my gift to begin with. I know where I want to be, but my current productivity just isn’t meeting what I know I can do and who I want to be.

Natalie Warne shares in one of her Ted Talk discussions on failure:
“It’s normal to have seasons where things just aren’t working out”
and I think we need to adapt and realize that in fact yes! It’s normal to have set backs and to not fully reach what you can offer to this world immediately. It’s normal to feel defeated in the face of failure. It’s how you grow your gift from that failure.

Ira Glass, the founder of “This American Life” said it best:
“Many creatives get frustrated when they go through a stage where the work they produce doesn’t match up with the taste they’ve developed. The successful ones are the ones who break through this roadblock.”

And I don’t know about you- but I want to break through to my full potential. Break through to my greatest gift! I am going to get there one day, and I can’t be disappointed about the failures I experience along the way.

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, and how you can still come out of it.”
-Maya Angelou

Life is short, make it sweet!

❤ AM