Gifts

Each of us has gifts, talents, native abilities, if you will.  You can develop a gift, but you cannot create it.  Some people have the gift of running fast.  They can develop this gift to the max, but they cannot create speed or fast twitch muscles.  You can be gifted at math and develop it, but you do not create the math gift.  I believe these come from God and I am supposed to use my gifts, meager as they are, in service to others.  This is because I see myself as a holon , part or other holons, separate, but still somehow interconnected.  I am an individual who is part of a whole.  Now if you say phooey to God stuff, OK.  You think your gift is hereditary, or evolutionary.  OK.  But then what is the purpose of the gift you have?  Evolution is interconnected parts.  You are not an isolated person.  Self-centeredness will not make the best use of your gift, will it?  I believe that it is a slippery slope to live as if you are an island unto yourself, with no responsibility to anyone else, and no connection beyond what you make, and such connection is temporary depending on how it serves you.  For me, faith in God or self that is not interconnected is a fantasy.  I try to avoid the slippery slope,  Stay off the edge.  Each day is a gift.  Prayer for me is connecting with the Giver.