Using our gifts in 2019

1 Feb 2019 • Articles

We’ve just been through Advent a month ago, preparing for the birth of Christ and Christmas has been and gone and then already we are nearly at the time of Lent when we prepare for Christ’s death and resurrection. Somehow this all seems so rushed.

We spend a month of Advent preparing and the same again at Lent. Then Christmas arrives and within a day it’s gone. We lead up to Easter going through Good Friday, Easter Sunday arrives, we perhaps go to church on these days but then go home to either open presents or to eat chocolate and then what??

Christ’s resurrection is probably one of the most mysterious things that we have to get our head around. As Christians we believe that this happened. During Lent this year in out Bible study group we are going to study this through a course called “On the Third Day”. Bishop John Pritchard has written this course for the very reason that I mentioned above. How do we carry on the wonderful life of Christ into our everyday lives beyond Christmas and Easter.

The fact that Christ became human is amazing. Even more so was that he died for us and then rose again. To know that He is alive and at work in the world through us is even more amazing. We can all try to be like him, to be kind, generous and loving. Each one of us have been given gifts. These gifts are our talents, skills, aptitudes and even life experiences which we can use. And we develop these throughout our lives.

Discovering what our gifts are is the first step and this is done through the way our parents encouraged us, our teachers in school, at work, with our friends, with our partners, all through the relationships we have throughout our lifetime.

The second step is accepting our gifts and realising our limitations by not being envious of those people with smarter brains. Our gifts are unique to us.

Then it’s enjoying our gifts and to take pleasure in them, to appreciate what God can do through our lives.

The fourth is to put to work our gifts, to exercise them and develop them. An investment of time and energy is needed as we can’t rely just on natural talent as that diminishes our gifts.

The fifth involves all the steps and offering them to God just like the wise men offering their gifts. God does work through us in our lives and frequently we are not aware that He is with us every step of our lives. All we can do is pray that he will be with us always in all that we do, think and say. God in Christ is with us. May we use our gifts throughout 2019 to the best of our ability.

God Bless.

Maggie