Being Generous with Our Gifts and Talents

Happy 2015, friends!

I am excited to introduce you to today’s guest, Kristin of The Ruth Experience. Not only can I relate to what Kristin says about mysterious stains, which appear on my clothing (seriously, how do I spill coffee when I am not even holding coffee?), but I am guilty of deflecting compliments and being not-so-generous with myself in regards to my gifts and talents.

What gifts? What talents?

Do you see what I mean?

I’m guessing you do the same thing. We find it difficult to acknowledge our gifts and talents. We dismiss our uniqueness, and most of us maintain an all-or-nothing attitude. If I’m not really good at ______________ (fill in the blank), I must stink. The idea that our skills mean little is completely false, but this belief keeps us stagnant.

Let’s make a deal to stop thinking this way.

Deal? Deal.

Here’s Kristin.

I once heard Shauna Niequist say that in order to host people in your home, all you really need are 15 minutes and three items: bacon, a laundry basket, and baby wipes. Fifteen minutes before someone is due to arrive, throw some bacon on the stove to make your guests feel welcome, grab a laundry basket to pick up any items your guests might trip over or sit on, then finish up by using baby wipes to get rid of sticky messes lingering on tables and floors.

Not only do I love that her “necessities” concept includes bacon, I love the idea that true hospitality requires very little preparation. Instead, it requires only a willingness to invite others into your home, regardless of its imperfections.

For me, it was freeing to hear her say that less-than-perfect is really more-than-enough.

You see, even though a good friend of mine recently told me that hospitality is a gift of mine, my natural impulse is to think of all the reasons it couldn’t possibly be true: Well, she doesn’t know that I nagged my husband about moving his pile from the kitchen counter and yelled at my kids to get upstairs just before she arrived. And even though I didn’t have time to bake anything homemade, I’m mystified as to how a giant stain appeared on my pregnant belly. So, really, I’m not sure I’m gifted!

Compared to Martha Stewart, I wouldn’t consider myself a maven of hospitality, so my so-called gift seems unimportant, at best.

I’ve found that all too often, being generous with our gifts and talents first requires us to be generous with ourselves. So often it’s easy to deflect a compliment or bypass things that seem unimportant, rather than recognizing the underlying gift they imply: You have a beautiful voice. Your house is so organized! You really have an eye for photography. Before we can share our gift with someone else, we first have to recognize it within ourselves.

In her book Carry On, Warrior, Glennon Doyle Melton puts it this way: “If you feel something calling you to dance or write or paint or sing, please refuse to worry about whether you’re good enough. Just do it. Be generous. Offer a gift to the world that no one else can offer: yourself.”

Own your gift, and share it. You’re the only person who can.

: :

A Jill-of-all-trades with a background in journalism, Kristin Demery has done everything from managing a social network site for mothers to working as an editorial assistant for an academic journal. You can find Kristin writing about mistakes, motherhood, and the power of grace on the blog she co-writes, The Ruth Experience , or connect via Facebook , Twitter , or Pinterest .

: :

Thank you, Kristin.

This post correlates with Chapter Four in When More is Not Enough to view other posts which relate to the chapters, clickity click on the following links. Generous with Prayer, Generous with Time, Generous with Money (even when money is tight).

Thrilled to be joining the ladies of Make a Difference Mondays.