As I was looking for something in my room, I came across my paints and began thinking about the colors and how much I love color and how I really should take some time and just paint a picture. Then my mind took me on a journey thinking of the really great artists and how their gifts were ordained by God.
The thought really struck me though. We marvel at the skill of great painters like Michelangelo or Rembrandt, Picasso, or Akiane Kramarik. But think of this: our God created each of them. He put them together in their mothers' wombs and He knew what they were going to do because He said so! He chose for each of them their gifts and abilities.
Not only did he create each of them, He created everything to make the paints and the canvases and brushes and cleaners. He created the trees that provided the wood for brush handles and easels. He created the minerals that made possible some of the colors used and the raw materials for the brush ferules and metal easels. He created all of it and for His own good pleasure.
We have a tendency to think of our gifts as just for ourselves. People seldom stop to really acknowledge the gifts with which they've been blessed, much less use them to glorify God. If the gifts are of the artistic sort, they are deemed hobbies or things we do when we get bored. We seldom think of them in terms of tools God gave us to give glory to Him.
If the gifts are academic or something we can do with our hands then maybe we will go down that road and find a career that makes good use of them, Still, not often do we consider God as part of the equation. It's what we're "good at doing." Clergy are pretty much the only ones who are "called" or at least that's what most of us believe.
As 2014 commences, think about this: what gifts did God give you for His good pleasure? Spend some time in prayer and see if perhaps He is "calling" you to do something - even some small thing with your gifts for His pleasure. If you're a parent, you can appreciate this. Think of the scribbley pictures that hang on the refrigerator door. They were made lovingly by your favorite little person for you. What have you done for God lately using the gifts He's given you? I'm focusing on art here, but it can be anything; spiritual gifts or other gifts like creativity, or listening, or any number of things. It's what you're good at doing, what comes so natural to you and what you love to do but it's also more than that. God created it and put it in you to be more.
Try on the idea of taking your gifts and doing something for Abba Father this year. Do it with all your heart and let Him know you are doing it just for His good pleasure. He may just surprise you. I'm going to paint Him a picture. What are you going to do?