Honouring our Gifts

Talent, smarts, wealth, health, power and beauty are enviable, it seems.
Hardship, abuse, challenges or loss much less so.

In a faithless world, they are two kinds of people, the lucky ones who have the enviable things, and the miserable ones who don't.

In the faithful world, there are two kinds of people, those who honour their experience and those who don't.

Every single human being has something to offer.

Some maybe more gloriously so than others, but what is glory really?
Glory is pressure. It is performance requirements. It is guilt looming, trying to sneak in, stalking.
Glory takes a lot of the enjoyment away from enviable things.

Every single human being has had their challenges

Some maybe more tragically than others, but what is tragedy really?
Tragedy is experience. It is priorities realigned. It is connection to the meaning of life, of love, of resilience.
Tragedy brings us to ourself, brings people together.

Spiritual well-being lies in honouring the gifts of our existence.

The luck we have, we know to enjoy.
The experience we have, we know to be grateful for.
The luck & experience we have, we know make us human, make us belong to humankind, we know are meant for sharing.

The fury of our world seems to demand of us to compare;
Compare to others, compare to standards, compare others, compare others to standards...

As long as we abide by the fury, all we will find is lack; what is too much and what is not enough, what is wrong, inadequate, inappropriate.
As long as we abide, things could be different, and soon, they should be different.
We should have less, we should do more, we shouldn't complain, we shouldn't rest.

From the point of view of the 'shoulds', our gifts are curses.
Then our experiences are reasons to withhold, shut down, renounce life.
And we miss the point entirely.

The Invitation

If there is something I am, and I can't not be, something life made me, that weighs on me... I ask myself:
How can this be good for the world?
Not for me directly, although that is also ok, but as a contribution I am uniquely equipped to provide?

Gifts are not just gifts, they are unique gifts - the combination of them is unique.
So what does my cumulated experience, good and bad, allows me to do that few people can?
Does my heart sing when I think of doing that?
(whether or not there is terror involved)