Where Do Your Gifts and Talents Lay?

Valerie Cullers 27 Comments


images[3]This week I am reading a biography of Winston Churchill. When we think of a larger than life figure like Winston, we assume he had a life of success at every turn. Usually that is far from the truth. Winston was not a good student. He was not good at foreign languages and math. He failed the entrance exams for at least two schools he wanted to get into. He needed to be tutored in order to pass the required tests. One exam he took between his Junior and Senior levels of education was Latin. It was a two hour test. He wrote 1. on the paper. About a half an hour later he wrote (1.) and put parentheses around the number. That was it. He just sat there unable to answer the questions. Mercifully, the headmaster came and took his paper and he was able to leave the exam room.

What people didn’t know about Winston was that he loved History and English Composition. He was talented in those fields and they would prove key to his success later in life. He was also stubborn and he refused to give up. That served him well when he was helping his country face the Nazi’s during the Second World War. These gifts and talents are part of what made him a great leader.

Each one of us has been given gifts and talents. Sometimes those talents are not readily identifiable by ourselves or others. Sometimes they are so different than what other people have or what society requires that they are almost unrecognizable. Whether we can identify them or not at the moment does not negate that we have them.

If we are at a loss to figure out where our talents lie and what course we should follow, what can we do? We can look on the Internet and take one of the free tests available. We can also grab a book that has the test in it, tells us about the different gifts and suggested occupations for those who have those gifts. One I read a while back is Dr. Caroline Leaf’s, “The Gift in You, Discovering New Life Through Gifts Hidden in Your Mind.” You can get it used on Amazon for only a few dollars. I have given this book to others trying to figure out where their giftedness lies and what they can do with it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to identify the gifts and talents within them. 51aCXiA3NSL._SX336_BO1,204,203,200_[1]

Why is identifying our gifts and talents so important? I believe that if we can identify our gifts that we will be able to seek employment in the appropriate fields and lead a more satisfying and fulfilled life. Notice I didn’t say, “We will be able to become wealthy and a tremendous material success.” The happiest people I know are those that are functioning in their areas of giftedness. They are serving where they fit the best in this world and are making the greatest impact in the lives of those around them.

27 thoughts on “Where Do Your Gifts and Talents Lay?”

  2. Your post has such a wonderful message: the answer to happiness in fact. You may have already guessed that I am a happy soul, contented in my work life and focusing on parallel passions (writing, guitar, photography) after-hours.
    I wish such a blessed existence on everyone, even if it does take some effort to discover 💖

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  3. I think the best gift I received was to welcome maturity with lightness, tranquility and security. throughout life, work was not always what I liked the most, but I never failed to meet the established goals. since I was a child I liked (I like) writing and researching. become a journalist, I was happy in my profession, and now I dedicate myself to photography, not professionally, for joy and for another passion: History. somehow it is what I try to show with the photos: fragments of History, which can be ours, mine, or simply the one of the time that passes.

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  7. I thoroughly enjoyed this, Valerie. I’m a Winston Churchill fan too. I’ll never forget his funeral in 1965. His Body was carried slowly on a barge down the Thames and a very long line of huge cranes had been lined up next to the river. As Sir Winston’s barge passed in front of them, these monster cranes were lowered one by one as he passed by them, as a sign of enormous respect. It was a deeply moving experience that I’ll never forget.

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  8. While I agree with the importance of figuring out where our gifts and talents lie, I would not want to rely on a book written by a person I do not know, and who knows nothing about me, regardless of how many psychology degrees she might hold. I think it would be much more natural to have people close to us, who know and cherish us, help figure it out.

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    • Absolutely! I think we need all the help we can get. When people initially want to identify their gifts, that is a good way to start, but there are many areas about us that people do not necessarily know, even those closest to us.
      I didn’t know my youngest was such a gifted writer until he wanted to read me one of his college papers from English Comp. Thanks for the input!!!

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    • I love him! I am just finishing his biography…perhaps tomorrow. One of our bloggers remembers when his body was being ferried down the Thames, how the cranes bowed. My husband and I looked it up on YouTube and it was so touching! He was really used by God to help keep Europe free! So glad you like him too!

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  11. Really enjoyed this post Valerie, especially your references to Sir Winston Churchill. Although born into a privileged family, he seemed to be able to relate to the average person, which I think also won him hearts.

    Sometimes when we’re young it’s hard to define our own true talents as we may find ourselves living a parent’s lost dream instead of our own. 😉

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