Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Learning to Love God by Loving Others

Home
Progressive Christian
Gifts and Talents: 3 Ways We Can Do Better With the Next Generation

Gifts and Talents: 3 Ways We Can Do Better With the Next Generation

Last updated on: June 16, 2021 at 3:59 pm by Susan E. Brooks

Gifts and Talents: 3 Ways We Can Do Better With the Next Generation 2021-06-16T15:59:15-04:00 Susan E. Brooks

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I hope my granddaughters feel free to use their gifts and talents. Though less than 2 years apart, they are so different. “Keeping Up With Big Sister,” By Susan E. Brooks

Gifts and talents are a form of God’s grace we can offer to others, and they say “to the world who we are.” I love the quote below from Mr. Rogers, and I wish my grandkids had a Mr. Rogers to watch and love. In spite of good advice from Mr. Rogers about using our gifts and celebrating how we are all different, I struggled with being myself and using my gifts in childhood as well as young adulthood. As my tenth grandchild is due next month, I hope my grandchildren can feel free to use their gifts and talents in ways I did not. I hope they can overcome judgement, gender discrimination, and jealousy.

We all have different gifts, so we all have different ways of saying to the world who we are. —Fred Rogers

Judgement of Certain Gifts and Talents

When I was growing up, Christian institutions viewed artistic endeavors as dangerous, slippery-slope kinds of activities. Dancing, for example, might lead to sin and going astray. Maybe it wasn’t explicitly stated, but it was implied. I never learned to dance as a young person—which I would have loved—since it was considered worldly. I loved acting, but beyond the occasional church skit, I didn’t have much opportunity for it. Christian circles undervalued visual arts as well, and I sometimes felt judged as shallow or worldly if I pursued my art. What use was it after all in the service of God? Some churches are improving in this area, but still have a ways to go.

This was my experience, and I hope others fared better, but I suspect most have felt judged in one way or another for pursuing their own gifts instead of pandering to the expectations of others. Had I been a male, I would have had more opportunities, which brings me to the next topic.

Gender Expectations

My husband was not asked to work in the nursery at the church or babysit anyone’s children. I was criticized if I didn’t do those things regularly, as well as work in the kitchen—again, my husband was never expected to. Sometimes I feel that the last thirty years were spent living up to everyone else’s expectations instead of using my gifts, which nearly all fall into the artistic categories. Children make me nervous, and I certainly don’t want the responsibility of keeping someone else’s child from jumping off the top step, eating all the aspirin, or drinking the window cleaner. I was so relieved that I managed to keep my own children alive until adulthood, so please don’t ask me to keep yours alive too. (My grandchildren are the exception to every rule, of course.)

I am sure this goes both ways, but I can only speak from experience about gender expectations for women. Boys should be taught to cook and care for children and do any other activities they might enjoy. This generation is doing better at this than mine did, but there’s still room for improvement. I hope my grandchildren feel free to be whatever they are meant to be, regardless of gender expectations from others.

Jealousy

If we’d all listen to Mr. Rogers a bit more, maybe we could overcome jealousy, our own and the jealousy of others. I remember both extremes as a child. I felt like a miserable failure on the softball field and was so jealous of those who could hit the ball, but we had no choice at summer camp. Everyone had to play. In the classroom, however, I felt pressured to act dumb because the other kids would hate me for ruining the curve. This is a tough one, but if we can talk to our children about all these feelings, it might help. Also, we need to help our children and grandchildren find their unique gifts. Too often, only certain kinds of gifts are encouraged and other devalued.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. —1 Peter 4:10

In many ways, this generation is doing a better job with encouraging children to be themselves and use their gifts. What do you think? Any suggestions for improvement in this area? I would love to hear them in the comments.

I’m an artist who loves to write. If you’d like to get to know me better, please follow me on social media.

My Blog: susanebrooks.com

Instagram @sebrooks81 (Mostly Art)

Facebook, Susan E. Brooks, Artist,

Twitter @sebrooks81

Art

General Christian Topics

Raising Children

Art

family

gender discrimination

Previous Post

June 12, 2021

You Can Do It: Pray, Read and Find 20 Minutes

Next Post

June 17, 2021 My Dad Was the Best: 3 Ways to Build Your Child's Confidence

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Discipleship dreams and Goals emotional health Following Jesus General Christian Topics God's Love Grace Hearing God identity in Christ Marriage prayer Raising Children Relationships and family sacrificial love Social Justice spiritual focus spiritual growth Trusting God Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz