The other day I bought 4 large fibre cement pots second hand. They were a good deal, usually selling for about R450 each, I got them for R120 each. Today Mike decided to put something in them, so off we went to the nursery.
We purchased all the things required for putting trees in pots and Mike got to work…
And so as I speak, we have now a fig, a guava, an orange and a lemon tree all planted in pots and all, we are told, ideal for their current situation. Mike also planted out my blueberry bush, although we were also told today that they like about 4 inches of snow. As you know, that certainly is not going to happen in Cape Town, but perhaps it will do okay in winter!
Each of us are different. We can’t get a fig producing lemons or an orange tree to produce guavas. And as trees are specific to the fruit they produce, each of us are specific to the talents we have been given. Mike is good for writing computer programmes. I am so not! But I can sit down and write a few hundred words each day, something which would be tedious for many people I know. I can also stand up in front of people I don’t know and confidently do a quick ‘meet and greet’ speech. I never realised that was a gift until I saw others who were horrified at the mere thought. Those are my fruit. I can do that. It doesn’t scare me or intimidate me. It comes naturally.
I think the goal in life should be, at an early age, to try and find your passion. That thing that comes so naturally for each of us, be it technology or music or people or behind the scenes helping.
It was one of the blessings that both my children enjoyed: they found their passion early. Stacey has been given ample doses of technology and computer genetic material. By the time she was 7, she was taking apart David’s remote control cars. And one of my favourite memories of her is when she put a ladder up against the neighbour’s wall and watched in fascination as the stones she threw into the pool dropped to the bottom of it! David was her accomplice as she sent him back and forth to the stone pathway to collect the stones she was tossing over the wall. It led me to make up a poem that I read on her wedding day, one line of which said,
“It’s not cool to throw stones in the neighbour’s pool!”
Stacey, my amazing Engineer daughter is utilising that natural gift to the max!
And talking of Stacey’s wedding, David was the main musician at it! He was just 9 months old when we noticed his ear for music. I remember Mike’s Dad playing his mouth organ and David rocking to and fro looking in amazement at this sound coming out of ‘Grandpa!’ Now a professional classical guitarist, he is studying his Masters in Music and is certainly using the gift God has given him.
If you are a parent, make every effort to find the natural gifts your children have and nurture them. Their career choice will be easier to find if you do.
1 Peter 4:10
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going!
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂