Just One Talent
It was late August in the year 2014; and 'Catharsis', the inter-collegiate cultural face-off for social work students, was round the corner. Pinky was both officially and undoubtedly in charge, and she excitedly made a list of twenty student names and put down events next to each of them. Before I go on, I will let you in on some background information: one, if our professors at MCCSWD allow us to participate in any cultural event, they expect us to come back winning the overall championship, and two, we won the Catharsis championship the previous year!
As a junior last year, I hadn't felt the pressure to win. I was just excited to be having an excuse to visit Trichy (where the event was organised, by Bishop Heber College) and was looking forward to enjoying myself. This year, as a senior, I felt the pressure. One of our professors was literally breathing down our necks, pushing us to practice over a short span of two days before the event. A lot of things weren't going well because we had several other meetings to attend, in addition to academic and non-academic work to deal with in the middle of all this. Personally, I was worried about my behind-schedule research work, and my incomplete field-work requirements. I didn't really want to go; I thought I could put the three days of the event to better use. However, Pinky was insistent that I join the team, because she felt that only I could take on some of the individual writing events (poetry, short story, essay). These wins would boost the overall team score. Also, I was part of a couple of group events (dumb charades, variety) I had taken part in last year.
I was trying to find some motivation to do these events, but all I could think of was how bad I was; how incompetent, in every possible aspect. I looked at Pinky; she was such a good dancer and choreographer, she could think of concepts for Variety in a matter of minutes, she could act, and best of all, she could organise a bunch of her chaotic classmates to make winning performances! I looked at Charis; she could sing really well, do all kinds of artistic stuff with ease, and she was better than me at what I thought I was good at - dumb charades!
The day we were to leave for Trichy, I was on an all-time low. The thought that was going through my mind was that people around me were so talented, while all I could do was write and speak some decent English, that was all. Suddenly (and I am not exaggerating or making this up), despite all the mystification, a little story from the Bible crept into my mind. It was a story narrated by Jesus, about a master and his servants. The master was going out of town, so he entrusted each of his servants with a few "talents" (old usage referring to coins, or money). While he gave 5 talents to one servant, he gave 2 to the second servant and 1 talent to the third servant. He told them each to use their talents wisely. The rest of the story goes thus; the servants who got 5 and 2 put their talents to good use, but the one who got just 1 just sulked over it, then buried it in the ground, and called his master unfair. He did nothing with his 1 talent, and when his master got back, he took it away from him.
You get the point, right? In the present day context, talents can refer to any kind of blessings God has given us. In my case here, it was actually my talent. God had given me that 1 talent of being good with words, and I was here looking at other people with their 2 and 5 talents! A teeny little voice inside me said, "Don't bury your 1 talent. Be faithful to your Master."
With that motivation, I went for it. I participated in 4 events, and won all of them! All I did was go with the attitude to glorify my God, to make sure He was glad He gave me that talent. And guess what, at the end of the three-day event, not only did my team win the overall championship, I was given the special title of Ms. Catharsis and a cash award, for the highest individual score among all the participants there! What more do I need to say?
It is only natural for us to sulk about things we have that we think aren't good enough. However, the truth is, despite what it may look like to us, God has given us exactly what we need. He knows each one's individual capacities, He understands our potential and, most importantly, He has a plan for us. We just have to trust Him with what He has given us and make the best of it, according to our ability. God is awesome, and when we listen to His voice and honour Him, He will honour us!
Now you can say "Amen" to that! :D
 |
| Catharsis Winners - 2013 |
I was trying to find some motivation to do these events, but all I could think of was how bad I was; how incompetent, in every possible aspect. I looked at Pinky; she was such a good dancer and choreographer, she could think of concepts for Variety in a matter of minutes, she could act, and best of all, she could organise a bunch of her chaotic classmates to make winning performances! I looked at Charis; she could sing really well, do all kinds of artistic stuff with ease, and she was better than me at what I thought I was good at - dumb charades!
The day we were to leave for Trichy, I was on an all-time low. The thought that was going through my mind was that people around me were so talented, while all I could do was write and speak some decent English, that was all. Suddenly (and I am not exaggerating or making this up), despite all the mystification, a little story from the Bible crept into my mind. It was a story narrated by Jesus, about a master and his servants. The master was going out of town, so he entrusted each of his servants with a few "talents" (old usage referring to coins, or money). While he gave 5 talents to one servant, he gave 2 to the second servant and 1 talent to the third servant. He told them each to use their talents wisely. The rest of the story goes thus; the servants who got 5 and 2 put their talents to good use, but the one who got just 1 just sulked over it, then buried it in the ground, and called his master unfair. He did nothing with his 1 talent, and when his master got back, he took it away from him.
You get the point, right? In the present day context, talents can refer to any kind of blessings God has given us. In my case here, it was actually my talent. God had given me that 1 talent of being good with words, and I was here looking at other people with their 2 and 5 talents! A teeny little voice inside me said, "Don't bury your 1 talent. Be faithful to your Master."
With that motivation, I went for it. I participated in 4 events, and won all of them! All I did was go with the attitude to glorify my God, to make sure He was glad He gave me that talent. And guess what, at the end of the three-day event, not only did my team win the overall championship, I was given the special title of Ms. Catharsis and a cash award, for the highest individual score among all the participants there! What more do I need to say?
 |
| Miss. Catharsis - 2014 |
Now you can say "Amen" to that! :D
 |
| Catharsis Winners - 2014 |
Comments
Post a Comment