ATX Catholic

A Voice in the Church in Central Texas

Spending Our Best Gifts First!

Published • Written by Filed Under: Blog, Faith

Halloween is almost here! Learn how you can celebrate with a Catholic focus, such as at the WilcoYA Festival of Saints!

Halloween is coming! As a child, I loved to trick or treat. My efficiency-minded personality really shone in my Halloween planning – I made sure to use a strong pillowcase because they were bigger and stronger than plastic bags or bucket, and I strategically picked which streets I’d frequent based on the number of decorated houses – correlating enthusiasm about Halloween to better candy! But you know what’s weird? After all that effort to get the best candy, I usually saved it for last. I ate the not-so-good candy, eyeing the “good” stack for yummy times to come. But most of the time, by the time I got to them, they were melted, or at least stale.

Sometimes saving the best for last is a great idea. Sometimes it just means that you end up throwing out the best instead of enjoying it. As Christians, we are blessed to know that the BEST is YET TO COME! We live our lives savoring our wonderful experiences, all the time knowing that these wonderful times are only a TASTE of the mountain of joyful tastes that God has in store for us.
Not only do we savor experiences, but I’m sure I’m not alone in also savoring possessions. While I would not call myself a hoarder, I do believe I have a certain gift to be able to use the things that other people throw away 🙂 While I’m working on living simply since my stuff isn’t coming with me in the long haul (Luke 12:23), I’m also trying to take other gifts – namely spiritual gifts and talents – and make sure to use them NOW, and not save them for a later time. God will give us abundantly and always refills in us the love that we share. Whatever our place in life, we have unique gifts and talents that we can offer to others – whether being involved in time-intensive ministries, or activities that can be done at home, like writing letters to those who are imprisoned or praying for others!
Captain Planet Team

What is your super power? (Image from captainplanetfoundation.org)

God gives us gifts and talents and when we use them to do His will, we glorify Him. These gifts are like super powers, but don’t always have to be the gift of strength, flight, or the ability to see through walls. Case and point – did you ever watch Captain Planet? I did and thought that Heart was the best hero! When I told a close friend that, he laughed and proceeded to say that Heart was his least favorite (and perhaps not even a REAL superhero). Well, everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion (even the WRONG one…just kidding!).. But my point is – we can all use our gifts – even gifts that others might not view as gifts – to do GREAT things out of love for Jesus Christ, things that will be on our “good list” (Matthew 25: 31-46) when the final judgement happens. I don’t think God is going to ask us why we didn’t save the world or expect that we spend all the money we have on the least in our midst. I think He IS going to ask us what we did with the SPECIFIC talents, to see how we  invested them (Matthew 25: 14-30).

Do you have a talent that is strange? One that doesn’t give you any business edge but might make a child smile? Or are you a strong leader among your friends, who can make decisions and get things organized? Or are you a fantastic listener, who people seek when they need close comfort? These are all gifts, and it’s best that we spend, not save them! What unique gifts to you have? How do you share them? Please share in the comments section below!
Halo Tip# 1: I told ya in the first post, I’ll be doing my best to write about practical ways to live a saintly life. An integral step to that is to recognize and remember God’s blessings in your life. If I can’t fit these steps in, I’m just gonna include them as related “Halo tips”:) Feel free to add your own related Halo Tips in the comments – big revelations or teeny tiny tips. As my fellow ACNM contributor Chris Williston observes, “Perhaps starting with huge first steps towards a living spirituality is unrealistic and smaller really is better after all.”The down-the-road plan is to start a shared google doc when we have enough tips and organize them so that we have a written strategic plan to Sainthood! In fact, why don’t we give out Halo Points?! “Like” comments that will help you en route to Sainthood and I’ll keep a running tally of the top Saint-makers 🙂 Top Saint-makers will at the least get props from God and that the most get a cool prize if I can think of something..

Halo Tip #2: And if you are a hoarder – I have a solution that may work for you (yes this aside is relevant to my blog – remember, you can’t take anything with you to Heaven, so you might as well get unattached to it on earth). For things that MEAN something to me, for example, things that were stored in my room at my parents’ house, but things that realistically, I would never look at again, I took pictures of them and put them on my computer. My screensaver from Google Picasa, my photo editor, randomly scrolls through pictures on my hard drive, so every so often I see the object and remember it fondly. For these things, I also have the satisfaction of knowing that I donated them and hopefully someone else can put it to good use and make new memories for it.

Halo Tip #3: If you love TV (and pay for it), I recommend a DVR of some kind. Why? Because with it, you get to CONTROL the TV and not be subject to a show’s schedule. It frees you to go to great stuff like Catholic events around the Diocese without wondering what show you’ll be missing. I remember being shocked in college (before my tv watching started) that people would reject FREE FOOD because their favorite shows were on. Secondly, read my first aside again. If your TV lets you show your photos (either through its hard drive, the DVR, or by connecting your computer) try it! Again, Google Picasa is what I use to set a picture slideshow as a screensaver or show. Instead of watching TV shows, watch pictures of the fun times with your friends and family – re-remember all the fun you have when you’re not watching TV. This will definitely put you in a good mood. Next, try playing some of your favorite music while you watch the slideshow (Pandora will create music stations based on what you like with amazing accuracy!). Before long you’ll be Singing – and then remember to turn that Singing to the Giver of All Good Things (including TV, jams, DVRs, trick or treating candy, and everything else…)

Note: Reflections in this blog are my own and do not represent the positions of my employer.

Comments

  2. Hi Maria,

    You are so ingenius in the presentation of your blog. Plus, it is brimming over with lots of creative ways that people can get involved in living a truly spiritual, meaningful, other-centered life that is based on Christiam values, and focused on Jesus! God bless you!

    Blessings,
    Marina Blackwood

    Reply

    • Thanks Marina – I am blessed to have had wonderful saints-en-route like you (and of course my momma!) early in life to help me see that the path is easy and the burden is light if we let Jesus lead us 🙂 

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

We are dedicated to bringing the good news of Jesus Christ into the world through engaging new and social media, with particular focus on Catholics in the Diocese of Austin.