Got me thinking....

So yesterday I was teaching my lesson to my CTR 6 class and the lesson was on talents.

I always thought I had a lot of talents. Always thought of myself as a pretty talented person. Why then was it so hard for me to come up with a talent that I could demonstrate for my class?!?


I first looked at the lesson on Saturday morning to see if there was anything I needed to go purchase or any extensive craft I needed to make. I created a talent card for each child with three talents that I had seen in them(swimming, riding a bike, sharing, singing, being reverent, saying prayers, etc.) They all seemed pretty easy, come on they are 6, how much can they really do alone anyway!? I then got to the part in my planning where it said to bring a talent of mine to teach, share or demonstrate. We looked around the house and instantly found something to take for Jimmy. He had made a candy dispenser in his wood shop class and we thought the kids would think that was pretty cool.

As I began thinking of something to take for me my mind went blank. I tried my hardest to think of talents that people have told me I have, NOTHING! My mind was literally blank. I could not think of one thing that I could take to show or share with my class. After hours and hours of thinking about it a decided I was going to cheat and make cupcakes and tell them that I was a good baker(even though I made it with a box recipe.)

I was starting to feel a little more relaxed, I would have hated to say "Well here is what Brother Tenney can do....Sister Tenney however can't do anything, moving on...."


Jimmy ended up getting sick on Sunday morning so I was on my own. The class was going good, they were excited to see what was in my "secret box" and they thought the candy dispenser was pretty cool. As they were going around the room sharing their talents and telling me how they could "use them wisely" as the servants in the parable of the talents did, I was starting to feel a little worse. How was it that a 6 year old could come up with more talents that they had and that they were learning on the spur of a moment but a 22 year old could not think of ONE thing in HOURS?!



When I got home from church I was still thinking about this, it really bothered me. I have done alot in my life but how much of it was me and how much of it was people I know. I don't mean this to be a pity me story just a moment of reflection. We are taught to use our talents wisely or it will be as though we never had them. Being a primary teacher for the first time, it is AMAZING to me how much I am learning and being reminded of by the sweet spirits that I get to spend two hours with once a week!

I want everyone to take some time and write down their talents, maybe you are like me and cannot think of them right away but as you think of them over the days or months, write them down! I know I will!