Spiritual Gifts

So we talked about spiritual gifts on Sunday but the lesson was focused on things like speaking in tounges and raising the dead...worthy gifts, but not ones that I am really in need of at this point in my life.

What I wished we had talked about was more practical spiritual gifts and how we find and cultivate those gifts in our own lives.

And what I kept coming back to, time and time again, was that the spiritual gifts that I need in my life, and that would do the most good, are the little things that might not even seem like gifts to other people.

I need to know who I am. I need to know that Heavenly Father loves me and values me as a daughter. I don't have an easy realtionship with my earthly father. I love him and he loves me, but we don't talk, and I don't turn to him when I need advice or counsel. I wish I did. But what I am realizing is that this relationship has affected the one I have with my Heavenly Father. So, I don't turn to him and seek His advice like I should.

So, there's another gift. The gift of prayer and getting answers to prayers. I have to say that I have made great strides in this area of my life and am really starting to recognize the spirit and the Lord's hand in my life, but it takes a lot of work for me to see it!

I think another gift that I could really use is balance. I am an all or nothing kind of person. I am hot or I am cold, but never warm! So when I do something, I do it with all I have and give all I've got, otherwise I just don't do it.

Well, that's all well and good, but there are a lot of things in life that require moderation, and most things are good, in small doses. But I don't know how to do that yet.

So, I guess what I am saying is that when we look for our spiritual gifts we shouldn't overlook the little ones. I think it is the little things that help us get where we are supposed to go, or keep us from ever getting there at all.

So how do we seek these things? How do we find them in ourselves? How do we know? How do you know?