This is kind of the latest concept I’ve been thinking of lately. I keep trying to tweek it before writing about it so I don’t say anything misleading. Basically, I believe any GIFT is a baby in the sense that in order to reach it’s full potential it must be protected, nurtured, developed, loved, and the list goes on; just think of anything a good parent would have to do his or her child in order for the child to grow into something the parent will be proud of.
Recognizing and Defining Gifts
For those who have them, a child is probably THE greatest gift of all, in my opinion. But their plenty of other gifts we receive. Talent would be one. Friendships and relationships are another. Our bodies are another. Then the list goes on. Some people, however, don’t recognize these things as gifts; and there lies the problem. How do you spend time caring for something you don’t see as a gift?
Examples: A child isn’t a gift, it’s a burden – let’s throw her away or put her up for adoption. My ability to teach people isn’t a gift, let me not learn more, let me just keep quiet. This person I’m dating isn’t a gift, I wish they would stop stressing me, let me just leave them. My body isn’t a gift, let me eat and drink whatever. This vocal ability of mine isn’t a gift, why should I waste time trying to sing?
For as long as we don’t recognize what our gifts are, we’ll never be able to devote to them the type of attention and care they deserve. They’ll never end up being as beneficial to us as they could have been. We’ll either end up neglecting them, misusing them, or wasting them; probably a combination of all three.
Bad Seeds
Nine times out of ten if a parent fails or neglects to protect, nurture, develop, love etc, their child, that child won’t ever grow to meet his or her true potential. The child won’t be what the parent probably wished he or she would be. The world is filled with adults that weren’t given the proper care as children and have now become detriments to society.
The stakes are equally as high when we don’t recognize these other gifts. I look out my window here in Jersey sometimes and see these apartment buildings with probably over five hundred units. These buildings house human beings just like you and I. All of them have gifts just like you and I. Some probably were able to dance, some sing, some practice medicine, or law, or jump out of the gym like Vince Carter. You’ve heard these people “maaaan back in the day I used to be able to…”. Now they just wake up every morning and head to jobs they don’t like and live lifestyles they’re not proud of. Why? Because at some point they lost sight of their gifts.
Just like babies aren’t easy to develop, neither are gifts. You have to wake up every morning and work towards making that gift blossom. If a person is a gift, call them. If your body is a gift, eat, sleep, and drink well. If your mind is a gift, exercise it. If your computer is a gift, don’t put it on the floor at Starbucks while ordering your frappucino. The price of neglecting a gift is heavy. Either you’ll lose it completely or it will stay with you as a beat up and watered down version of what it could’ve been e.g. kids who give their parents problems, broken computer screens, minds unable to process information, unhealthy bodies, less than wicked jumpshots.
They don’t call bad children “bad seeds” for no reason. They weren’t planted properly. How the hell are they supposed to some how then grow into anything special?
Crawl Before You Walk
Once you recognize your gift, you can’t rush it. Would you rush your baby to grow up or cherish the days and watch him/her develop? Same thing with talent, same thing with relationships/friendships, jobs, and whatever gifts we may receive. These are things that are supposed to get better with each passing day if you do the work to make them better. A 1 year old 80 year old man is not only impossible, it’s not smart. Go ask Benjamin Button. Rushing and being too aggressive with gifts sometimes is the best way to lose them. How many people have we seen chase down record deals only to never be heard from again? They failed to nurture their gift. They tried to make a 1 year old 80 years old.
Some Gifts Are Worth More Than Others
Here’s where it gets tricky and I’m still working on this aspect of the theory. In the sense of children, we tend to say they’re all equal. A mother must show the same amount of time to each of her children. I think that sounds good in theory but in reality we know that parents have favorites. If not favorites, at least the one they see the most potential in. Doesn’t mean to give up on the rest, just means to treat the best like the best.
So in the sense of other gifts, we must also be able to recognize what isn’t a gift, or at least what isn’t OUR gifts. Basketball wasn’t my gift, no matter how hard I tried. It belonged to LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and some other kid who’s at a park shooting jumpshots right now. My gift: Using entertainment, fashion, business, and whatever else I have at my reach to reach people. So just like the smart parent, I devote most of my time to this. I still do other things but I know my best gift now so I treat it as such.
Same with relationships. Sometimes we have more than one person that captivates our interest. How do you decide which one is the true gift, if either? Usually the best way to recognize a gift is that it keeps finding you. In fact, your first encounter with it wasn’t something you planned; it just sort of happened. To say we can go around choosing our gifts would be defying nature. It just doesn’t work that way. So with that said, the person you lusted over for years and finally are talking to nightly on the phone probably isn’t the gift. It’s probably the person you met when you least expected it. The friend you deal with because you make money together probably isn’t the gift. It’s probably the friend you can call when you don’t have a dollar to your name.
Gifts are somewhat difficult to identify but all it requires is patience. Then once you recognize them, give them the care and effort they deserve and I guarantee you’ll reap the benefits.
Sidenote: I got a roadtrip to make so I’m cutting this short. More on it later…..maybe.
