Sing Your Song

She was scribbling away with the crayons I'd just given her.
She stopped coloring and then she looked up at me.
I could tell she was about to ask a question.
"What is your talent?" she asked me.
"Uhhh...uuhhhh, " was the only vocalizations I, a third year college student, could utter.
"I don't know."
"Everyone has a talent. Are you an artist?"
I chuckled. You would too if you've ever seen any of my 'drawings.'
"Let's see...I love singing."
"Oh me,too!" Her smile was so big! "Sing!"
"Huuh? Sing?"
She was nodding her little head off.
"Sing a song or nanana."
I felt really shy but ended up lala-ing some little Disney tune.
"Oooh, you can sing!"
Then next thing I heard were her little crayons scribbling on a paper.

Why did it take me so long to answer that simple question? What are my other talents I began thinking? Was I using them enough? "Use it or lose it" and the parable of the talents came to mind.
The wicked servant in that parable had been the one who was misusing that talent his master had given him by not using it at all.
Misuse, at least for me, could also be done by using the talent for selfish motives.
What a pity it would be if my Jesus came back and found me abusing the precious gifts He had given me, the gift to smile, the gift to befriend, the gift of music, the gift of teaching, the gift of knowledge, ect. because I had become selfishly selective on whom I would share my talents with or when it was more convenient. Or I could blame the misuse on my shyness. "Ooh, I am just too shy; I can't do that!"

For every excuse we come up with the Lord has a storeroom of promises to strengthen, humble, and guide us.

When we say WHO AM I to bear this responsibility? WHO AM I to be at fault? WHO AM I to make a difference? WHO AM I to talk to them?

To Moses, He said, "Certainly I will be with thee...Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."

To Gideon, He said “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

To Isaiah, He said (through an angel), "your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

To Jeremiah, "Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you."

To me, to us, He says, " My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command."

Lay down your selfishness, lay down your time, lay down your preconceptions of others, lay down your life and just, love!

His love compels me to "bear fruit—fruit that will last."

Lord, forgive me for the selfishness that has too often come between the life and talents You have given me and Your will. Thank you for using a little, curious child to remind me.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."