Last Sunday we had a family service at our church. This meant that all the school age kids stayed with their parents and families during the entire service instead of going downstairs for Sunday School during the sermon. The sermon leaned heavily on clips from the movie Cars 3.
If you haven’t seen the movie (and you should), the main character is a hot shot race car named Lightning McQueen. We’ve seen him in two previous movies where he learned about the value of humility, friendship, and loyalty. But in this movie he is starting to get older. He can’t quite compete against the younger, faster race cars and he’s not sure what his life will be like without racing.
What he doesn’t realize is all that he has to offer as a trainer, through his experience. This hidden talent ends up being a crucial asset to the outcome of the movie.
Believing in ourselves doesn’t have to self-serving. It can also be a tool for making us more generous. Click To Tweet
When we see what our talents and abilities really are, it enables us to give of them to others. I’ve known that I enjoy writing for a long time, and I was a writing tutor in college. I’ve been part of a critique group for the last nine years, and during that time I saw how satisfying it can be to help others writers grow. But I never had the opportunity to teach writing until we joined our current homeschool co-op 5 years ago.
I saw that they needed a writing teacher and I volunteered. What I didn’t realize at the time was how much I would enjoy it, and how good at it I was. Click To TweetI didn’t initially volunteer because I thought I’d be great at it, but because I saw a need that I thought I could fill. I remember being nervous and my husband encouraging me that I could be a good teacher for young writers, even those who thought they couldn’t or didn’t want to write.
After five years I can recognize that, yes, I am pretty good at this. That acknowledgment makes it easier to continue volunteering my skills year after year.
Take stock of your own assets. There may be a talent or skill you can teach or share. I learned to knit as a college student with a bunch of girls huddled in a dorm room with a book and one girl who had learned from her grandmother.
That small, half remembered skill that she passed on has led to more than fifteen years of a treasured hobby and method of self-care in my life. Click To TweetYou never know the power of sharing what you have with someone else. Believe in yourself, and let that belief make you bold in your generosity.
Next – Does It Even Matter? When What We Have to Give Feels Too Small
Family stuff at church is right up my alley. I plan intergenerational events at our church.