What do we do with our surplus talents and abilities?

 

I went to a great woman’s memorial service yesterday and as I was listening to a recap of her life I thought what we do with talents and abilities we have that we don’t use up.

My Brother in Law climbs Rainier most years. For several years he has taken a watermelon to the summit. While the watermelon on the summit is perfect I have felt the real reason he carries a watermelon to the summit is that he is showing the mountain he has more ability to get to the summit than is needed, so he adds something to increase the difficulty.

The reason I thought about watermelon on the summit of Rainier was remembering this great woman who was my friend’s mom. I was in their house on a regular basis from grade school through high school so I saw how much energy she devoted to her children and it was impressive, I won’t say unequaled, however it was close. With all that she didn’t use all her “Mom” ability so what did she do with the surplus? She opened up her home to kids who needed a place to live. I can’t remember how many but I do remember a couple of them by name.

Her grandkids spoke at her service and they talked about how much she did for them. I wonder if they know how much she did for others before they came along.

Makes you think about how we use talents that we have more than we need.