My Thought for the Day

As I've been thinking about what I should do when we move to Washington if I don't find a teaching job, I've considered many of the talents that I have (or want to have) and what I could do to develop them. At first, I approached the idea of developing these talents with enthusiasm and excitement. As I started thinking more about it, though, My thoughts were along these lines:

"So many people are better at these things than I am. My time would be better spent doing other things; these efforts will take me nowhere."

Typical, human thoughts to have, right? As I thought about them tonight, though, a question came to my mind: 

What is the purpose in developing talents? What is the end goal? And also, what is the end goal in me? In who I'm supposed to become?

What I realized when I stewed upon this question is that my previous train of thought was flawed. Why? I was using the world's logic. To the world, the end goal of developing talents is fame, power, and money. But what's the eternal end goal? 

The eternal end goal is to become someone special and wonderful and glorious. The eternal end goal isn't to settle for mediocrity, to consider yourself second-rate, or to always say to yourself: "That's reserved for them because I'm not good enough." NO! Ahead of each of us lies the opportunity to be equally blessed and talented and amazing. No one is left out. In essence, we can all be the best!

With a worldly perspective, it may not be worth the time to develop one's talents because it won't produce one of the three worldly desired products. But with an eternal perspective, we desire to be good and talented and wonderful because we believe that we are good and talented and wonderful, or at least that we are meant to be and are working on it. 

Celine Dion has surely accumulated a lot of happiness and fame and wealth from her singing career. But Celine's success should not take away from the triumph and success one feels when they finally feel like they can sing a hard piece well, or from the happiness and spirit that others feel when that individual shares their talent by singing a song in sacrament meeting, or from the peace and joy that one feels by becoming just a little bit more like the person God intends them to be through developing the talent God has given them.

I intend to start living a little bit more with this eternal perspective, now, as I consider what I want to do with my time and who I want to become. Of course there will always be people in this world who are so much better at the things I attempt than I am. But that doesn't mean that my efforts are wasted and my purpose is lost. There are lives I need to touch, the is a God I need to help, and there is a person I need to become. For these reasons, I will always strive to be the best I can be, and to inspire those around me to do the same.