Some are told they have no talent, but that is a lie
- Kyle Snyder: Live on Purpose
- June 5, 2018
- 1655
“There are two kinds of talent: man-made talent and God-made talent. With man-made talent you have to work very hard. With God-made talent you just touch it up once in awhile.” — Pearl Bailey.
It was 13 years ago when I donned a blue cap and gown and walked into my high school gym to receive my diploma. It was the end of high school for me and the beginning of the real world.
I had no idea on earth what I was going to do with the rest of my life. All I heard in high school was to go to college and get a good-paying job, and I would be fine, figure out what I was good at and do it.
The problem was with my cerebral palsy it wasn’t a matter of me being smart enough to go to college, but rather it was could I find a job to justify me going to college.
People would tell me how smart I was, that I needed to go to college. Well, I like the law. Maybe a could be a lawyer. Then again, they have to talk plain and be understood.
What about accounting or book-keeping? I am great with numbers. However, I get bored easily, and I might not stay on track.
There were a lot of jobs I thought about, but my speed and output kept coming up as a problem. I felt sad and mad. I knew going to college would be the easy part, but finding that one in a million job would be the challenge .
So while everybody was going off to college, I stayed behind and worked until I lost my job, due to my not being in high school because the job program was for high school students. I thought it was the end of the world, but I got back on my feet.
To be frank, I think high schools and teachers make too much out of going to college. It is not the only way to get a good-paying job. The degree is not the end goal; getting a job to take care of yourself is.
I know a great deal of people who went to college and have their degrees but are not doing anything in their field of study. In some cases people have to go back to get another degree in order to get the job they want.
We far too often look outwardly to determine what we are going to do with our life, instead of looking inwardly. Don’t get me wrong. We all have to make a living and pay our bills on time, but if at all possible, we should get a job that best uses our talents.
A job that goes best with our talents and not our billfold will make us happier in the end. Yes, we might make less money, but isn’t happiness more important than bucks in the bank? What we are good at doesn’t necessarily tell us what we are talented at.
If we are truly talented at something, we will enjoy it as well. We will put more into it because it is more than a job to us. We will absolutely love it because God ordained our talent to go with it.
Now, will we wake up every day and want to do it? Realistically, no. We all have days where it would be nice to just relax and not go to work, like if we are sick. Who wants to work while they are sick? However, once we get to work and we are not sick of course, we know without a doubt we were born to do this job.
If we love what we are doing, that is a good indicator of our talent. If we don’t love what we are doing, we should ask ourselves what do we love doing and is there a job around it.
Some of us were told we don’t have any talent, but that is a lie. God put in us talents that we need to use to honor him. Have we even asked him and then waited for the answer?
That is a fantastic starting point: Ask the one who gave you the talent in the first place. Don’t try to force his hand. Just let him answer in his perfect timing.
Maybe he will talk to you while you’re doing something you love doing and tell you that is it. Be open and listen to God. He well never ever let you down.