By Valerie Minard
Each year thousands of people make New Year’s resolutions to improve their lives. Whether it’s to lose weight, get a better job, or do something about a relationship, it seems like the New Year causes us to be introspective—perhaps revealing a discontent with how things currently are and a desire for how we would like them to be.
But, it may also indicate a need to go deeper than just fixing these outer trappings (as important as we may think them to be). Have you ever wondered if these seasons of discontent might actually be a divine stirring to express more of your spiritual nature —to be the person you were meant to be and to do the thing you were meant to do? Isn’t that what we all need—a renewed sense of purpose, knowing there is a divine plan for each of us?
Our Father-Mother God made no one expendable, useless, or outdated. Nor does He give talents to just a chosen few and everyone else is left guessing about what they are supposed to do. God gives all His children multiple talents; He shows us what they are; and He gives us opportunities to express them to their fullest.
The Bible gives us this encouragement, “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: …. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” (Isa. 65:20-22)
Wow, we are meant to “long enjoy the work of (our) hands.” We are meant to express our talents and see them come to fruition and enjoy them. So how do we discover what this work is and fulfill our highest purpose in life? Some seem to know it from the beginning. But, even if you are still waiting to discover your talents rest assured they are just as valuable.
The way to find out what God has given us is to put aside personal willfulness, listen, and then take steps to follow the spiritual intuitions we receive to foster the development of these gifts. As children of God, we already include all the right ideas needed to bring our talents to fruition and the power to express them. Just like the bud already contains all the beauty and symmetry of the future flower it will become.
Christian theologian Mary Baker Eddy found this to be true in her own experience. She had been an invalid for a good portion of her life without much hope for the future. But, she had a great love for and trust in God, and at her lowest point, literally on her deathbed, she was healed while reading about one of Jesus’ healings. A Bible student her whole life, she wondered what had made the difference. So she began a deep, three-year search of the Bible looking for answers to how and why she had been healed. She discovered that there was a Christianly scientific basis for health–demonstrable divine laws that anyone could turn to for healing themselves and others. Her journey of spiritual discovery was not easy, but she found her purpose in life healing others and teaching them how to heal, too, through what she named Christian Science.
In response to the question, “What am I?”, she wrote, “As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good. Thus may each …(of us) rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing.”
As we get our own human planning out of the way, and become spiritually receptive to divine Love’s plan for us, we’ll discover the beautiful talents we already include and begin to utilize them in productive ways. So let’s make this year a time of listening and yielding to God’s plan and discover the wonderful opportunities in store for us this new year.