Winner of the American Christian Fiction Writer's Carol Award for Dauntless!!!

Monday, June 15, 2015

Celebrate Your Unique Gifts

This week, in addition to reading the last version of Chivalrous and trying to reach my 75% done goal on book 3 in the Valiant Hearts Series, I will also be busy celebrating my middle child's graduation from high school. Here's a peek into his life. As you can see, he loves the outdoors and adventure sports.

I'll be honest. Of my three children, Jonny is the least academic. He is very kinesthetic (again see pictures above), which is not the ideal academic learning style, and he also had to overcome an eye-focusing related learning disability. But because of that, he had to fight harder than the other two for his successes. And he is a fighter. He did well in school, will be receiving an advanced degree with honors, and earned a partial academic scholarship. 

It would have been easy to fuss at Jonny to stay inside and study when he longed to be outside and being physical, but we didn't do that. We could have compared him to his siblings, who breeze through their academic pursuits, but that would have been entirely unfair. 

At some point he seemed so miserable in school that I actually told him he didn't have to go to college. I gave him a list of possible careers that didn't involve a college degree, and I told him I would be proud of him no matter what he did. After that, he became more determined than ever to do well in school and go to college.

We celebrated and honored his unique gifts. We encouraged him, as we do with each of our children, to seek the path God had for him. Next year he will be studying business, which is a perfect fit for him. 

God has given each of us unique gifts. Your gifts might not look like someone else's. Your accomplishments might not look as impressive on paper as those of your friends or your siblings. But as long as you use your gifts and follow the path God has called you to, someday He will say, "Well done my good and faithful servant." 

And that's the best achievement anyone could ever hope for.

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