Gifts

This morning, I was watching the Piano.  I started it last night, but I have a fairly strict bedtime, and I needed to get some sleep.  I finished watching, the music still hauntingly playing in my ears. 

In the Piano, the main character, Ada, has a gift for playing the piano.  The music seems to stream directly from her soul.  She plays as if all her emotions will spill out onto the keys and then flow back into her.  She uses the piano to communicate, since she is mute.  Playing is not a choicer for her: it's a drive, a necessity, a way of life.

I believe each and every one of us has a gift of some sort. My gift is writing.  Having a gift and using a gift are two different things.  I've been writing my whole life, since I was 7 years old, and yet I wasted so many years not doing it, afraid of what others would think, starting and stopping and never finishing anything.  Some people deliberately choose not to use their gift.  I don't have that choice.  When I have an idea, I have to type it out.  I have a pressing drive to do it, just like Ada, even though I fought that drive for many years. 

My eldest son is a gymnast.  He is talented.  His coach says he has a gift, but he still has to work at it and it's still a challenge.  Writing is a challenge for me, every day too.  Putting the words on paper, making the dialogue seem real, and hopefully, one day, being able to publish something that the rest of the world wants to read!  The talent I have has to be nurtured, improved upon, and most importantly not wasted. 

What talent is hidden inside of you?