“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.” – 1 Peter 4:10
“A five-year-old piano prodigy from Los Angeles has made history by becoming one of the youngest to ever perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City,” reported ABC News recently on its evening news broadcast. “Alec [Van Khajadourian],” they when on to say, “started to learn to play the piano when he was just learning to walk.” Many a toddler has been known to bang on the piano keys from time to time, but to perform complex classical music at age five? That, we must all agree, is a God-given gift.
Rare are those who are born with such natural talents, whether musical, artistic, athletic, academic, or something else. Unfortunately, for many people with such extraordinary talents, they tend to believe they have the right to use them however they please, for their own pleasure and glorification. Then there are those of us – that would be most of us I assume – who were not endowed with such grand abilities as young Alec. And unfortunately for us, we either spend our lives believing we have no type of talent at all, or else we keep hoping to discover some hidden talent, thus sometimes wasting precious years searching for what it might be.
Call me guilty as charged on all counts, as I suppose I’ve committed them all in one way or another. While it was obvious at an early age that I was no child prodigy, to the point I have questioned whether I had any sorts of gifts or talents whatsoever. Yet, I have also experienced enough successes during my life journey to cause me to become a little too full of myself, believing I had the right to indulge myself however I pleased, that I had earned it by the sweat of my brow giving no credit to any God-given talents. I am sure I am not the only one who has suffered self-doubts at times, and at other times over-indulging in self-gratification.
Who among us has not dreamed of having some great talent, to run fast or jump high, to solve complex math problems in our head, to transform a blank canvas into a masterpiece, or perform music perfectly and effortlessly? Oh, but we do, each of us in our own unique ways, maybe not as obvious as that of a great musician, athlete, or artist, but God-given nonetheless. But for what, young Alec must one day ask himself – as do we all? “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.”
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