Gift or Curse

The Bible teaches us about spiritual gifts, and we see signs everywhere of various gifts of ability to excel in many ways. Our society has many programs for recognizing superior talents and skills. At the same time, some promote the idea that we are or should be the same. If we were created equal, then we must be the same in every way. That statement is so false, it is just a lie. No two people are clones of each other, not even twins.

Each of us is born as individuals with genetic makeup created from our mother and father that includes differences that make us unique, even identical twins. With identical twins, they will appear to be the same and will be so similar in many ways that we expect them to be the same in every way. That expectation is not healthy, because they are unique people with their feelings and desires.

It is normal for a person with a gifted physical ability, like a fast runner, to work a little harder at developing their track skills to become faster or to be able to run longer distances. A taller teenager will be encouraged to play basketball and train hard at those skills. Most of us could run and shoot a basketball, but many of us were not nearly as good. Sports and many other things in life involve ability, effort, and commitment to being beyond average.

Spiritual Gifts are viewed as in relationship with God. I believe many books have been written on that subject and some on a single Gift, but that is not what I wanted to discuss today, or at least my focus of this article.

From the day a child is born, parents, grandparents, friends, and almost everyone begin the examination process. We look at physical appearance to comment on, the nurse has already counted the fingers and toes. If the child has an older brother or sister, we look for similar actions or other comparisons. That is human nature, and as much as we say we don’t do that, we do.

When a child shows exceptional abilities for their age, we are excited and view that as a gift. As the child grows older and excels in multiple ways, our expectations expand as well. When a child can learn things so quickly, even learn to run fast, skip, ride a bike, and do those things without effort, we know that is not normal for most children.

Over the years, our schools created a program called “Gifted and Talented” to try to keep developing those abilities. Sometimes (I have no way to provide stats), those children are not challenged enough, and they get bored, which may cause issues. A child who can learn math, science, draw, and sing at exceptional levels we call it truly gifted. A child who can learn the books in the Bible and recite every story that we teach children, but in connection to the point being discussed, is exceptional. Other children may not understand those abilities, and their relationships are affected.

Studies have been conducted looking at “genius and bipolar”. Is there a cause and effect, or more circumstantial? The Bible teaches about the gift of prophecy, and the scriptures focus on the ability to understand what the future holds. It is about God providing directions and knowledge of things to come. With my years of experience in IT at many locations, I had a pretty good sense of what worked and what didn’t. My gut feeling was influenced by past experiences, but it had been proven correct too often to be just that alone. That was a gift, but only if other people listened and agreed; otherwise, it was a curse. I would be faced with watching the problem play out, and I never enjoyed saying “I told you so!”

When that child becomes a teenager, typical teenage problems can magnify any “bipolar” type reactions. The child may be dealing with other health issues with puberty or illnesses that affect their normal routine. The child still can make “A” in difficult courses, but is distracted or searching for a purpose. The child is now flagged as a “problem” student. Other “problem” students become the group to associate with. The child’s true identity and childhood history get overlaid with the new identity that cannot remember the exceptional abilities.

Others see and react to the current identity that is being lived out. The child is now an adult who struggles to find the will to face tomorrow. The hole is so deep that every effort only makes it deeper. Those who want to help have a defined path to bring the old identity back, and the person in the hole does not even remember that person.

Our society has made problems worse for this person and hundreds of thousands of others by changing the way we enforce laws and how many abnormal behaviors we accept as normal. Alcohol and many other forms of drugs are used in the open with a level of acceptance not seen in the past. Too many people believe people have a right to do whatever they choose, and they ignore the mental illness in front of them. They may shout “love is love”, but ignoring the mental illness problem is not love. God expects us to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem by doing nothing.

All those gifts the child had demonstrated in the early years, when not utilized during the later years, may have felt more like a curse. The question is “How will this story end?” God is still in control, but God uses people to implement necessary changes. President Trump has been given the burden to see these problems fixed, and some will fight his efforts. Which side will you choose?