Gifts. Make Room for Your gifts.

A'Leeyah Ponder
Jun 13
5 min read

Hello Family,

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The Fruitful Place 'Gifts. Make Room for Your gifts' blog post read aloud by A'Leeyah Ponder uploaded to youtube for optimal accessibility

Do you have any gifts? Talents? Special abilities?

I’m sure you do.

Are you using them though?

I’ve had an interesting time trying to navigate the weight of my giftings lately. To paint or not to paint? To draw or not to draw? To write or not to write? To plan podcast episodes or not to plan? To sing or not to sing? And the list goes on.

Unfortunately, I’ve had a tendency of becoming lackadaisical, or careless, with my gifts; which I’ve recognized is a problem. Many elders in the Black community, particularly grandmothers, would be quick to say, “if you don’t use your gift, you’ll lose it baby” — and the truth is, we will. Our gifts, talents, and special abilities are just that, gifts. God don’t owe us nothin’ and God definitely don’t owe us special talents.

There’s a passage in the Bible, a pericope, where Jesus shares a parable with the disciples, a few of his closer friend-followers, about talents. In Matthew 25:14-30, The Parable of the Talents goes like this…

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’"

(English Standard Version, alt. ESV)

Now, for context, the disciples had asked Jesus in chapter 24, the previous chapter, “tell us when will all this happen? what sign will signal your return and the end of the world?” And Jesus being Jesus, He answered in the form of parables. The beautiful part about parables, which are short stories intended to share a deep spiritual truth, work in two ways. First, parables are short stories like “the Fox and the hair” that can teach you a larger lesson about the world. Second, the short story can be taken literally depending on the content, and you can apply the lesson to your personal life.

I bring this to bare because context is powerful. Although Jesus was talking to the disciples, we can both learn more about the world and ourselves by paying close attention to the fabric that is being used to weave this story together.

Some of us can resonate with Servant 1’s experience. God gives us gifts, talents, and responsibilities, and we HAVE TO DOUBLE IT. We want to make it count. We share our Services. We sell our Services. We barter. We give our time and volunteer. We want to ensure the gifts, talents, and abilities are creating opportunity for MORE. Periodt!

Some of us can resonate with Servant 2’s experience. Yes, God gave me gifts, talents, and abilities, buuuuut I’m a little nervous about sharing them; so, I May not “DOUBLE IT” but I’ll share within my comfort zone. I’ll share my content on my close friends section of my social media Account. I’ll ask family to support my growing business. I’ll even ask for mentorship. Periodt, there is room for you too — just know you can take up a bit more space than you believe you can. You don’t have to play small anymore.

Some of us can resonate with Servant 3’s experience. God gave us the gifts, talents, and abilities, BUT we’re afraid. Afraid to start. Afraid to make mistakes. Afraid to fly. Afraid to win. Afraid of success. Afraid of whether people will support us. Afraid. And instead of doing something we choose to do nothing. Afraid to try. Periodt! We may be here now, but we ain’t gone stay here.

May this message be your sign. May this be your gentle and sweet reminder to start. Start right now! Allow your gifts to make room for you. Get a list going — write down all of the gifts, talents, and responsibilities you have. Beside each of your listed items write 1-2 ways you can start using the gifts, talents, and responsibilities listed. May you tend to this list with care and intention. May this list remind you that everything you need to do what you’ve been created to do is either within or within reach.

I don’t believe God would give you gifts, talents, or special abilities if God didn’t believe you could do amazing things with them. We believe in you. It’s time you start believing in yourself.

May you soar.

I love you. Jesus loves you most.

Be fearless in your pursuit of making your dreams come true. Use the gift before you lose it chile!

Be bold, Be you, Be kind to yourself too.

With love,

Miss A’Leeyah Ponder

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Citations:

English Standard Version (ESV)