Imagine for a moment if Steve Jobs did nothing with his creativity and innovative thinking but instead decided to dabble in those gifts as side projects while following a more traditional path and getting a more traditional job. If this was the case, the world would have been robbed of all that Apple has become and of all the ways the company has changed the world.
Imagine for a moment if the Wright brothers conceived in their minds the possibility of creating a machine capable of human flight, started building their vision, but gave up because of their limited resources or decided to move at a slower pace which would have caused someone else to build the machine before them. If that was the case, you and I would not be familiar with the names Orville and Wilbur Wright because they likely would have become like millions of others throughout history who had a great idea but did nothing with it and were forgotten as a result.
What these people have in common, and the prerequisite of them changing the world in the many ways they did, is that each of them discovered their gift and developed it as a skill over time with a work ethic that most people in this world could never comprehend. It’s easy to look at the final product and to admire the gifts that these individuals brought into the world, but each of them knew that gifting alone was not enough to make happen everything they manifested. The world is full of gifted people but many less see all that their gifts could be. Why? Because most people in this world who discover their gift treat it like a hobby.
If you want to become the greatest version of yourself by fulfilling the call on your life and the reason you were sent here to this earth, it’s imperative that you take the gift you have and develop it over time with practice and repetition, crafting it and shaping it so that it’s ready for action when your encounter with destiny comes and the spotlight that could have changed your life destroys you because, like film on an old camera that needs to enter the darkroom, you brought a gift to the light that wasn’t developed in the dark. If you want to manifest your purpose, stop treating your gift like it’s a hobby.
Walt Disney said, “Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again, and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.”
God did not give you the gift you have for you to keep it to yourself or only show those closest to you. Your gift was given to you to shine the light of God on others and will touch lives in ways you’ll never know, but none of this is made possible if you treat your gift like a hobby and keep it to yourself. I know you’re gifted, and I know that gift alone can take you far, but I also know that your gift developed will take you places you never imagined and will change lives of people you’ll never meet.
Kyle Dendy appears this Tuesday on LIFE TODAY. This is adapted from The Purpose Playbook by Kyle Dendy. Copyright ©2018 by Kyle Dendy. Used by permission.
