Gifts from God – this was the topic of a breakfast conversation with one of my young grandchildren a few days ago. We spoke of the importance of using and sharing our gifts for the benefit of others and to give honour and glory to God. We spoke too of how God has given each of us special gifts and we are called to use them. We don’t want to waste our talents and gifts by burying them.

During a recent period of deep contemplation, there was a point where I believed the gift of communication lay dormant in me for a fair chunk of my life. As I was led deeper, aspects of my professional and personal life came to light like a list unfurling in my mind. An amazing array of activities rolled out before me. Like a flash of lightning, there was a sudden realisation that I used my gift of communication more effectively and extensively than initially believed. The Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways.

I acknowledged that although my focus on the spiritual came later in my life, the gift used in professional and personal ways over earlier years still gave honour to God – even though I may not have realised it at the time! For the work I did served others; and in serving others I was serving God. I wrote in my journal: Hey Lord – I have made use of your gift. I didn’t allow it to be dormant after all. Thank you.

Now I am older, wiser, have more depth of understanding, am more committed and I believe, truly believe that nothing is impossible. I have a gift of communication from God. I use that gift in God’s service and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who gives me the words. I draw on life experiences that are real and lived. I am an imperfect man, who has made countless mistakes. I am a sinner. I once was lost, but now am found, a new creation, called by God to proclaim the Good News, using the gifts and skills that have been honed in me by the Spirit of fire. And so it is I communicate.

“Each one of you has received a special grace, so, like good stewards responsible for all these varied graces of God, put it at the service of others … so that in everything God may receive the glory, through Jesus Christ, since to him alone belong all glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.” [1 Peter 4:10-11]

The gifts given by God are to be used fully every day, for each day is a new day. Swiss philosopher Henri Frederic Amiel said, “Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.”

Blessed John Henry Newman was very specific when he stated: “God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission … He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work.”

We each have a vocation – a God-given calling – for our own lives. Each Christian is called, through the sacrament of Baptism, into a life lived for Christ, and is equipped at the Eucharist with the assurance of the very presence of Jesus as we respond to our calling. But for all of us our shared vocation is to live as God desires us to live, to be holy.

Never underestimate the potential hidden within you. Keep pushing the frontiers of the possible for “nothing is impossible to the one who believes.”

We are called and commissioned by God through the power of the Holy Spirit of Fire and Love, to proclaim by word or witness the Good News of the Kingdom of God; to be a presence that disturbs, to cause others to stop, notice, ponder and discover the fullness of life which Jesus proclaimed. The challenge Jesus gives is to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with God. We are called to turn our lives “inside out.”

What is your gift? What is God calling you to do? What is the definite service God asks of you? What is the talent that has been entrusted to you? Are you using it fully in God’s service? What I do is me: for that I came. [Gerard Manley Hopkins]

Life is a gift to share. It is a precious gift to be savoured and treasured. As Fulton Sheen said: “Life is worth living.”

Treasure Life!