. . . to EVERY man is given a gift by the spirit of god. To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby.
. The gifts of the Spirit are given universally to all. My mother had the gift of being able to connect to other people. She could start a conversation with the person and the line at the grocery store and make a new friend.
Lynn has a similar gift. He is curious about people. He just starts asking questions and soon knows so much about whoever he is with.
I am more introspective. I like to do what I am doing right now - reading and studying and thinking about what I read.
We each have different gifts and to the extent we are open to others - all others - we are blessed by their gifts.
Think about how when you are on a committee you see that work. Someone will automatically start taking notes. Someone else will lead the discussion. Someone will start creating a plan. It's amazing how those gifts work together.
As you continue to read this section through you may be left wondering what it is talking about.
Differences in administration
Diversities of operations
The gift of tongues
The word of wisdom
This is a good example of looking for the principal being taught and then using common sense to apply this to your own experiences and understanding.
In the February 2002 conference elder Robert D Hales suggests the following:
The gift to ponder, looking to God for direction.
The gift to hear and respond to the spirit
The gift to be calm, to curb anger
The gift of charity
I find my own gifts mentioned in my patriarchal blessing. But I also have spent a lifetime coming to understand myself, to know how I respond to life and how my heart reacts and how my mind thinks. I see my gifts in those moments.
Now here is the best quote I have read about gifts of the Spirit!
"Spiritual gifts are traces in us of our divine natures, aspects of ourselves in which we more fully reflect our Heavenly Parents . . . I have seen how drawing on these unique gifts can bring us closer to god, perhaps because they call on parts of ourselves that are closer to God already." BYU magazine spring 2021 page 24
Talk about expansive thinking! I think about my own gifts - my search for knowledge and understanding and peacemaking. Those are attributes of my Heavenly Parents! Wow! I share that with them.
Further in the same article, the author talks about ways we may feel the Spirit. It is the first talk that I have heard/read that made me happy and hopeful that the Spirit indeed touches my life.
"Forget for a moment receiving some great answer to prayer. Have you felt the spirit even a little as you have sought the Lord in prayer? Have you felt the spirit convey to you that God loves you or that he understands you, or that he has great hopes for you or that he sorrows with you or that he rejoices with you, or that he appreciates your gratitude to him or your kind deed for someone else? Have you felt the Spirit open your mind to help you learn something new, or turn you to something good, or inspire you to perceive something beautiful or reassure you that things will be okay, that you aren't lost, that God knows exactly where you are? If you have ever had any of these experiences or myriad others like them, you have effectively experienced our Father's plan of salvation in a grain of sand.
You have been shown that God is real, that your life has a purpose and that Christ atonement is making it possible for you to feel God's presence a little more fully.
What does spiritual thriving mean to me? Very simply, it means seeking, recognizing, and enjoying experiences with the Spirit of God. It means being mindful of the breasts of ways the Spirit moves us and then being responsive to its inspiration, perhaps by drawing on our unique spiritual gifts and perhaps by learning to perceive God's presence even when we are preoccupied by other concerns.
My conviction is that if you have experiences with the Spirit, even ones that are only still and small, that God is choosing to abide with you."
No comments:
Post a Comment