Hooray, it’s our first new challenge of 2013! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Now it’s time to get back on track…and we’ll start with today:
What are some of your gifts and talents?
I know it’s hard to sometimes admit the things we’re good at, for fear that we’re bragging, but it’s also important to recognize all that Heavenly Father has blessed us with! Not only does He bless us with things like health, a home, family, and other temporal blessings, but He has blessed us with gifts and talents so that we can help others…contribute to the kingdom and bless His name.
If you’re not sure what some of your gifts are, read D&C 46, and you may just discover that you have more gifts than you realized! Also, remember the Parable of the Talents? (Matt. 25:14-30) The man who hid his talent was called by his lord, a “wicked and slothful servant”. So, I hope that by listing your talents and gifts, you will be better able to use them for good, and the Lord will be able to say to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”! Also, check your Patriarchal Blessing, mine specifically points out a couple of gifts that I’ve been given!
You can simply make a list of the gifts and talents you’ve been given, write them in your journal, make them into a scrapbook page, or even use one of your talents to do something more (like write a poem about it if you’ve been gifted in that area!). I’ve also made a Fast Form freebie for any of you who’d like to use it! Just right click and save the image. (You could use this whole challenge as your next FHE!)
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Now on to our examples!
(I haven’t gotten anything yet from our team members, but if they get it to me, I will put them up!)
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What I did:
I actually decided to twist this one a little bit. I’m going to print off and fill out the Fast Form, but I thought it’d be fun to do a scrapbook page based on something my old Bishop taught in a lesson a few years ago that has stuck with me.
Credits: Paper, Die Cuts With a View (Doodlin’ Around Stack—came as is!), Pen, Zig Writer, Pearls, Martha Stewart, Jewels, unknown.
Here’s what the journaling says:
“Once upon a time…I thought I didn’t have many gifts or talents. I wasn’t exceptionally good at anything…I didn’t have a “thing” in High School like others did. I have always been just “alright” at a handful of things. Musically, I do okay on the piano—not well enough to play for Church. I also played the clarinet a bit and I can sing well enough for a choir but not any solos. Artistically I can’t draw, but I am a pretty good photographer and good at scrapbooking. Academically I was always a B+ or A- student—not good enough grades for scholarships. I was (still am) a pretty good teacher, but not teacher of the year quality. I was/am a pretty good dancer, though I never made any special teams. I feel that I am just pretty average at all that I do. One Sunday, our Bishop taught a lesson I’ll never forget. he was using Elder Oaks’ “Good, Better, Best” talk and focused on how if we spend all our time on just 1 or 2 things we become like blocks, but if we are good at many things, we are well-rounded. That put my life in perspective! I may not be the best dancer, photographer, or even mom…but I am WELL-ROUNDED!”
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Now I challenge you to record about some of your gifts and talents—and then put them to use! 
