I Wish I May, I Wish I Might

Didja ever want someone else's Gift? (Yeah, Gift with a capitol 'G'. It's kinda like God and totally appropriate) I don't think I mean coveting your brother's bicycle at Christmas or even you neighbor's wife, but instead, wishing you could do something really well that you know you can't.

Here are examples:

I wish I could write a book, but I don't believe I can. There are so many great authors is the world; some are alive right now. Men and women whose imaginations bend to complete tales; who can envision dialogue and witty repartee, write it all down and entertain the heck out of me. It is a Gift. I get started with what I think is a great idea, and within 500 words or so, I have run out of ideas, motivation and patience pretty much simultaneously.

I would love to be able to draw or paint. I know there are those who can see images in their mind's eye, and faithfully re-create those images on paper or film or electronically and capture the in-head image for me to enjoy. A Gift. I am lucky to pick a trim color that goes with the wall.

Or the person who can hear the music between their ears, write out the notes, and then have someone else play the song for the first time, and it comes out just as they 'heard' it. Gift. Just think.....Handel wrote the Messiah in it's entirety in just 24 days. According to legend this occurred after accepted Christianity as his faith. Gift or Inspiration?

What about the individual who can see a printed note on a page and then sing that exact pitch? I have heard that the human ear can distinguish frequency differences as small as 1 cycle per second. Sing an A#. It's a Gift.

The engineer who can design a bridge or a dam. Gift.

The singer who can make me shiver, the driver who can pilot a race car at 200 mph inches away from the track wall and never flinch, the teacher who can explain so that even I can understand. All Gifts.

I believe we are all Gifted, and I believe some of us make much better use of our Gifts than others. What I am unsure of is the nature of our Gifts. Perhaps we are born with many opportunities, but only the ones that are nurtured really grow. Some of us are blessed with multiple Gifts, some with only one, and I suppose there a few unfortunates with none, though I find this difficult to believe.

So, yeah. I wish I could write like Clancy, paint like Bosch, compose like McCartney, fly like Scholl, make money like Turner, dance like Baryshnikov, sing like Sinatra. golf like Jack, play like Les, think like Einstein.....well, I think you get the picture. Which one do I want? All of them, please!

Hey, you! Yeah, you! What is your Gift? Use it or lose it.