Gustave Eiffel's Iron Lady was inaugurated on 31 March 1889, and opened on 6 May. Today the Eiffel Tower is one of the most recognizable structures in the world and is the single most visited paid monument in the world. However, the tower was not well received when first built; many called it an eyesore. Novelist Guy de Maupassant—who claimed to hate the tower—supposedly ate lunch in the Tower's restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where one could not see the structure.
When I ponder on the lack of acceptance given to this architectural art piece, which I hold so dear, I begin to relate it to my own lack of acceptance of the talents that my Heavenly Father obviously wants me to develop.
Let me explain--as a child I wanted nothing more than to learn to play piano like my big sister. I begged my mom to take lessons. Both of my older sisters had the privilege of lessons. And I will state as evidence that the youngest sibling does not get everything they want, that I was denied my request. My mother told me that my sisters could teach me.
Well that really did not get anywhere. Teenage sisters are not very interested in teaching younger siblings anything. So I took it upon myself to learn the art of piano playing. And I did learn. However, I have never gotten to the point where I would consider myself a pianist (even though I can normally sight read at least one clef at a time.) I have never accepted piano playing as a talent. Even though I enjoy sitting at a piano to play some tunes, I have never really thought to seriously try to better my abilities.
It would seem that my Heavenly Father has other thoughts of my talent. In my last ward, I was called to be the pianist for the primary children. When I moved last fall, it took a month to receive the same calling in my new ward. I hear my Heavenly Father silently shouting to me that I am a pianist and my talents are meant to be used.
Are you overly modest about your talents?
Do you have talents that you have a hard time accepting?
What are they?
7 comments:
Definitely one of your best posts ever, Amber. Loved it.
I think about talents a lot. I think some of us have more obvious talents (like the musical ones) that are harder to hide, but it's the less obvious ones that I am interested in. I love meeting a person who has a talent for being happy, for instance. And that person probably doesn't even look at it as a talent. But I do!
I've thought a lot about this. I definitely try to hide my talents sometimes. For instance, while my immediate coworkers know about my blog, when I went to the CBC, my boss found out I was at a blogging conference, and now, everyone, including the Big Big Boss knows, and have pulled me in to help with their social media team. I wish they didn't know.
But I do like to tell everyone how awesome I am, on a regular basis. :)
I think the writing talent was a real hard one to accept, although I had the same kind of experiences. It was weird and exciting all at the same time. =)
I've always wanted to learn to play the piano, but being the youngest as well never got the opportunity. Maybe I can learn when my daughter does.
I do think it's hard to identify your own talents. I'm constantly asking my husband what he thinks I'm good at, which is akin to the "does my butt look big in these jeans" question.
It's hard for me to accept my talents, and even to acknowledge them. This post gave me much to think about. Well done!
I agree about talents also. I'm more afraid to succeed at them then I am to fail. It's weird but true.
Loved this post girl.
I'm asked to sing at church fairly often and I'm always thinking - me? Don't they need one of those singing people? At 33, I'm just starting to recognize that I might be able to carry a tune...
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