The Power of the Gift--by Linden Malki

Once upon a time there was a man who lived by a bay, and had a boat. With his boat, he could gto fishing; he could put out crab pots, he could just let the boat drift in the waves and watch the seagulls swooping and circling overhead. If he wanted to visit friends on the other side of the bay, he could row over. It took a time and effort, but the bay was pretty much his back yard; he could get almost anywhere he wanted to go there on the bay by himself. He didn't need anybody; he could do it himself.

One day a friend brought him a mast with a sail ready to rig. So they rigged up the sail, and took the boat out. The friend knew something about sailing, and the boat owner knew how the boat handled, and so the two of them could sail farther and faster than either or both of them could row. Of course,it took both of them to handle it under sail, and they had to have the right wind and weather, but they knew a sudden gust of wind or a storm could be trouble.

Then they had the opportunity to get a deal on a motor for the boat; it was a gift. They made sure it ran, mounted it on the boat, and set off across the bay. This was a whole new thing--they could do things and get places with the motor than weren't feasible with just oars and sail.  And--they could take it out of the bay and into the open water; they weren't limited by muscle and wind power. Of course, the motor used fuel, but they found a source for fuel and oil for the motor.

One day, the owner of the boatyard came to them and asked them to come into his office. He had charts laid on on the table, and he showed them what the bay and the adjoining sea was really like; where the water was deep, where the rocks were, where the sandbars were, and how the currents ran. He told them that one of the boats in the drydock needed some special parts, and they were available at a harbor a little ways up the coast. "Now that you have some experience with your motorboat, can you go pick up these parts? I'll supply the fuel, and there's a bonus in it for you."

Think about our lives--there are things we can do with the abilities that we developed on our own, but when we are given a source of power and direction, we can do things not just for ourselves, but for others as well. The combination of who God made us to be and what He can do with us if we let Him add on the power and fuel, takes makes us unique.

“There are no real personalities apart from God. Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most 'natural' men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerers have been; how gloriously different are the saints.

But there must be a real giving up of the self. ... It will come when you are looking for Him...Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” ― C.S. Lewis