Finding Ourselves

What are my gifts?

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. - 1 Peter 4:8-10

In today’s epistle, Peter talks about being stewards of God’s grace.  I like that.  It makes me feel like I have an important purpose in life, to carry grace to others. 

How each of us does that may be different.  We don’t all receive the same gifts.  

And we may find our gifts fairly late in life, as I did.  That’s good news, because we can be so hard on ourselves at an early age as we struggle to find ourselves.  

A recent article cited the threefold increase in teen and college suicides since the 1950s as a reason to be alarmed.  The American College Health Association (ACHA) listed suicide as the “second most common cause of death among college students.”

The article focuses on the stress of being away from home, meeting new people, dealing with exams, etc., but these things are not new.  They are part of growing up.  So what gives?  

I wonder if we have lost our childhood.  

Have we forgotten how to be carefree?  Are we in such a rush to be on our own that we have lost touch with the playfulness of youth?  

When I was young, I didn’t worry about having meaning and purpose.  I knew I was who I was and I didn’t think about who or what I would become.  The future always arrives on time and usually with impeccable regularity.  

So finding purpose in my senior years makes sense to me.  But then I always tried to be positive about what lay ahead.  

I hope I am successful at sharing that sense of optimism with my grandchildren.  I wouldn’t want them to lose hope and fall into the pit of depression. 

I want them to know that their gifts will reveal themselves in time.  And some may be stubborn, hiding for longer than expected. 

And wouldn’t it be great to see those gifts emerge?  

Oh, but maybe I shouldn’t say that.  It could add to the pressure.  I am getting older after all. 

More to come.