What Are Your Gifts?
A group of animals got together in the forest one day and decided to start a school. There was a rabbit, a bird, a squirrel, a fish, and an eel. They formed a board of education and tried to create a curriculum. The rabbit insisted that tunnel digging in the ground be in the curriculum. The fish insisted on swimming. The squirrel insisted that perpendicular tree climbing be included, and the bird wanted flying.
They put all these courses together and wrote a curriculum guide. Then they insisted that all of the animals take all of the subjects. Although the rabbit was getting an A in tunnel digging, perpendicular tree climbing was a real problem for him; he kept falling over backwards. Pretty soon he became brain damaged from these falls, and he couldn't dig well any more. He found that instead of making an A in tunnel digging, he was making a C. And, of course, he always made an F in perpendicular climbing.
The bird was really beautiful at flying, but when it came to digging tunnels in the ground, he couldn't do it so well. He kept breaking his beak and wings. Pretty soon he was making a C in flying as well as an F in tunnel digging. And he had a very bad time with perpendicular tree climbing.
The squirrel was terrific at perpendicular tree climbing, but was so afraid of the water that he failed swimming altogether. The fish was easily the best in swimming class, but he wouldn't get out of the water to come to any of the other classes.
The valedictorian of the class was a mentally retarded eel who did everything in a halfway fashion. But the teachers were happy because everybody was taking all the subjects in their broad-based educational curriculum. This story is taken from the book entitled "Everything You've Heard is Wrong" by Tony Campolo, and it sure teaches us a lesson or 2 about life.
Have you ever felt like the animals in that school? Have you ever been in a situation where you are supposed to do things that you are not equipped to do? I have. There was a time when I felt bad I could not do the slam dunk like Michael Jordan but now I realize that being air borne and slamming that leather ball into the hoop is not my gift in life. God has designed me to do something else and the beauty in this is that after He had made me, He threw away the mold and that's why there can only be one Francis Kong in the world. I am unique and He has equipped me with certain things I can do pretty well.
There are things you can do that I can't and there are things I can do that others can't. Why? Because God never intended for everyone to do everything. You don't have to be like your boss, your neighbor, pastor, or like anyone else. God gave you specific abilities, special talents and skills that are designed for you to be productive so that you can be a positive contribution serving God country and men. No one else is gifted quite the way you are, and there are many jobs that only you can do.
You're special and all you need to do is to be connected with Christ and seek for those unique gifts given to you so that you can harness it and use it for His glory.
Remember, natural resources are destroyed by over use and abuse but human resources are destroyed by under use or non-use. So seek earnestly for those precious gifts and begin serving Him. There's great and unexplainable joy in doing so. Believe me.
August 27th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Salamat po at marami akong natutunan sayo po sir. Yong sinulat mo ay naging instrumento, hindi lang sa akin kundi pati sa mga kapatid ko, na gawin namin ng mahusay ang mga regalo na ipinagkaloob ng ating Maykapal. Pagpalain po kayo at hihintayin ko pa po yong mga blogs nyo po.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Sir Francis, I ‘ve been looking for my unique gift for the longest time in my short stay here in this world but let me just say that gifts make us very productive and make us understand the world in an entire new perspective that most of us cannot see….. it’s a simplified complicated world but its just like building your jigsaw puzzle where you put the pieces together to make a great image of what life is really all about…… Peace….
August 11th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
You are the kind of a person everyone wants to follow.
June 20th, 2010 at 12:32 am
You are truly gifted, Mr. Francis! I admire your down-to-earth explanations that it gives me “aha!” moments. I’ve watched you once on TV and I must say your words are inspiring.
This article is very apt for me especially the part where people “put you in a box”. I don’t know the answer yet as I am searching for the gift God has given to me. As for now, it’s given me the confidence knowing that I am getting there.
Thank you and more power!
March 20th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
yes i have been to certain things that i can hardly did, but as what chinkee said.. utilize what you have and be the best on it..
March 4th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I’m also your avid fan. Hope to see you personally. I read your book one day at a time. And it was life-inspiring and soul-nourishing. Hope that you could download one day your video talk to your website. Thank you very much as being a good role model to many of us who wanted to achieve excellence in life. God bless you Sir Francis.
February 24th, 2010 at 12:08 am
I am a great fan of Sir Francis. One of my favorite books is “The Early Bird Catches the Worm”. This book all serves as my guide in life if ever i feel stressed and worn-out. Sir Francis is also a great speaker… How I wish I can attend again and again in all his talks. Thanks very much for being a gift to us.
God bless
November 6th, 2009 at 1:07 am
Another compelling and inspiring message from Sir Francis, and thanks for being an inspiration to a lot of our kababayan.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Francis,
I enjoyed reading this simple, nice and powerful story!
March 24th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
hello, sir. i read your posts at least once a week.
i extend my respect to you for you really are a big inspiration to many. I thought, only people my age visit your site. i am only 17 years old. i don’t know why i read your posts during my first visits, until you had the blog about something happened to us that changed our lives. I haven’t seen you on tv, only during the talk at our school but after i read about it, I really had a self-actualization. I thought of things I really should change in my life. From then on, it already became a habit for me to check your site at least once a week. I learn a lot from you, sir. i wish you good health, really, especially that you travel most of the time. God bless you Sir!