Amazing People

People really are amazing. Each one has been given something special, something that makes them unique. Some gifts and talents are front and center - hard to miss. Others are classified as more common. Hobbies, perhaps.

Some abilities are left to the chosen few, like swallowing swords (how would you ever find out you can do that!) or climbing to the top of Mt. Everest. Wow!

Some abilities are shared by many people, like knitting a sweater (which I find amazing since I can't seem to do anything creative with yarn) or walking on your hands (another feat I could never accomplish).

Many of our gifts and talents are woven into our work, our professions.

What is funny to me is that we often look at other peoples accomplishments and find ourselves wondering how they ever came to do such a thing! Then, we think that our gifts and talents are just part of who we are. Nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary, just doing what we do.

The other night I was picking up my daughter from orchestra practice. (Playing an instrument is, of course, amazing!) A woman I know was waiting for her two daughters. We started talking about writing for some reason I cannot remember. She commented on how amazed she was that I could write creatively. She said that she could never write that way.

I had to tease this lovely lady - a doctor of all things!

"Well, I could never be a doctor," was my reply.

It floored me that someone with a job as important as hers would be impressed with me. A doctor! I think that is amazing.

Really, though, all of the things we do are part of a bigger picture that makes this world interesting and functional. Writers provide us with something to read. Doctors provide us with care and health. Parents raise children. Gardeners raise vegetables. Tailors provide clothing. Carpenters build homes. Teachers provide us with an education. The list is endless.

I think my favorite things about people, though, are the little quirks that make them unique to those they are most intimate with, like family. My mom has a photographic memory - sees things in her mind. You can give her any word, any length, and she can spell it backward as quickly as forward.

My dad can blow little spit bubbles off his tongue. They float through the air. Strange? Perhaps, but really, really cool when you are six.

I can cross one eye. It looks creepy, I've been told. So far my mother's prophecy that my eyes will stay that way if I keep doing it has not come true.

What are your talents, your abilities, your quirks? They make you uniquely you. I believe we were made the way we are on purpose. It gives us a place in this world. It provides a service, a need, a smile, a helping hand, enjoyment, to those around us.

ENCOURAGEMENT: Embrace who you are: be yourself.