Talented Sheltering

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Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there there except for those who sang the best.  ~Henry Van Dyke



When I was a new bride, RB sang in an Oratorio Guild.  I'd go faithfully to hear him sing even if Oratorios sung in German weren't really my thing.  Before we were married, people questioned our choices since most thought RB needed someone with musical talent.  I'd say -- after 36 years -- that fact hasn't detracted from our love or marriage.  

International Student Convention 2010

Wherever we went I got the same question, "Do you sing?"  I'd answer, "No."  "Do you play?"  Again, I'd answer, "No."  I'd get strange looks and the conversation was over.  One day an older woman, whose husband also sang in the guild, asked me those questions.  When I answered no, she leaned close and whispered, "I don't either, and when people ask me if I sing, I say, "No, but I scrub a mean kitchen floor." 

Can you believe I still remember that?  It's because she gave me the right to be proud of my own talents.  Aren't you glad God didn't make us all the same?  Otherwise we'd have beautiful music and nothing to read.  Or we'd have
trillions of books to read and nobody to offer
hospitality to us.  God made us with  unique talents.


Emily (Auntie) and Ethan



Now admittedly, there are varying degrees of talent. 

While one may sing very well, someone else may sing

even better.  The trick is not only using our talents, but

not judging them by others. 



Have you ever been sheltered by someone talented -- someone who makes you think, "I can't believe she did that for me!"  I have been so blessed by others sheltering me time and time again.



Just this month Emily had a birthday.  She shares her birth date with her nephew, Ethan, so her birthday is so much more fun for her than it was seven years ago.   Melanie and her family were coming over for the Sunday dinner to celebrate.  Emily loves white cake/white icing and the grands love cake, too.  We have a talented cake decorator in our church so I asked her to make a cake.  Oh, my goodness, was the cake beautiful.  White cake with white roses and a teal E (so it could stand for both Emily and Ethan).  Carisa refused to let me pay for the cake, even when I said I wouldn't want to ask her to make me another one if she wouldn't let me pay.  She said, "I'll let you pay for the next one, but this one I want to do for Emily." 
  


Cake by Carisa

 

Now just having her agree to make it was a blessing to      me, because she just got home that week from her brother's wedding (and among other things, she made the wedding cake).  But to Emily, the cake tasted just a little sweeter because she knew it was a gift from Carisa.  I tried cake decorating 30-some years ago.  I had stickiness from one end of my kitchen to the other.  And I've never tried it since.  But someone else used their talent to bless my daughter -- and we all know when that happens, we are blessed, too.



 This isn't all Carisa does.  She organizes our fellowship dinners and makes the most creative dishes to bring.  She's PTO president at her children's school, keeps our nursery running smoothy, and isn't too good to do a lot of the clean up work, too.



Emily 2010



RB is out today using his talent to bless our church family.  He's playing and singing for a funeral of a fairly young man who died from cancer.  Time and time again he's used his talent to shelter others: volunteering to prepare music for state and international competitions at our local school, giving lessons, leading worship at church and at the university where he works, playing for weddings, etc.  He's taught his daughters to shelter using the musical talents they've inherited from him.  Melanie is the organist for our church, teaches lessons to the school children and homeschoolers, sings with her family and other groups in church.  Emily sings several times a month at our services, with her father for special musical services at other churches and is taking French horn lessons so she'll be able to play in the orchestra at church.


At the church in Bedford where we worked for nineteen years, the senior pastor's wife had a talent for medical expertise in caring for others.  She was a nurse practitioner so this talent was her career, but so many times she would help those in the church with their medical needs.  I know our family was spared many trips to the doctor because she was willing to give us advice. 

I wish I could tell you all the talented people who have sheltered me, but this post is getting long.  There are others, like my sister, who shelters by sharing her beautifully decorated home, tea parties and what many call her Bed and Breakfast.  Our Christian schools are full of people who could make a great deal more, but they believe in Christian education and are sacrificing to teach, be a secretary, or coach a team. 

Wanda

The reason I've been thinking on these lines is because a dear, sweet and talented woman went to Heaven a few weeks ago.  Wanda was amazing.  By the time I met her and her husband, they were retirement age.  Her husband was a contractor and after retirement helped build the school for the church in Bedford.  He built a shed where he taught carpentry skills to the students.  Wanda was an artist.  For 17 years she volunteered at the school, teaching art among other things.  After her husband died she added volunteering at the local hospital.  Every year at Christmas time she would write the most beautiful letters to RB and me, thanking us for our friendship.  It was an honor for RB to play for her funeral.

Were any of these people world renowned?  No, these are ordinary people determined to use the talents God gave them to shelter others.  We should guard against being proud of what God has given us.  John Wooden said, Talent is God given.  Be humble.  Fame is man-given.  Be grateful.  Conceit is self-given.  Be careful.  We didn't choose our talents.  God blessed us with them. 

Write down one talent you have.  Now find three ways you could use it to shelter someone.  Think of something you've never done before. I'd love to hear about the ways you've found to shelter others with your talents. And don't be ashamed of the talent you have.  I'm sure your pastor's wife or an elderly woman has a kitchen floor they'd liked cleaned.

 * * * * *

Can't decorate like Carisa?  Here's a fun cake you can make without the mess.

Cake by Melanie

So easy.  Cut a circle of cardboard.  Form the diapers in a circle and tie in place with ribbon.  Fold the next layer of diapers in half, form to circle and tie with ribbon.  The next layer is one diaper wrapped around a bottle of lotion or powder.  Use pins to keep the layers together.  Decorate with baby items.