Talents are such a Mystery...

Talent – of practically any kind – amazes me. When I am a witness to someone’s unique talent, I am sent into a state of complete awe. The fact that these people have talents and abilities I could never achieve only enhances my sense of wonder. My mind is boggled as I observe: it is almost as though throughout the wide variety of talents I am privileged enough to know, I can see God peeking out of each person in a unique way.

Music. I love music with a passion. I sing, listen, and dance to it all day long. The musicians I am blessed to know thrill me with their talents. Watching my cousin open her mouth and sing; the volume and magnitude of her beautiful voice is staggering to me. How must it feel to be able to sing with such ease; to be able to worship God with such a voice? For my part, singing requires a lot of effort, and the effort is telling. How remarkable it must be for your voice to sound so clear and vibrant without trying at all!

I recently listened to a soundtrack of a movie score which was composed by someone I know indirectly over the web. I stare blankly with astonishment as the gorgeous melody pours into my mind, filling my senses. How does one do that? How does someone write music; weaving melodies as one weaves a tapestry, so that it becomes a masterpiece of sounds? My mind cannot begin to grasp how one would write music. For one who loves music so much, the art of composing will forever remain a mystery to me.

I could move on to instruments; maestros of so many of these hold my thoughts captive from strains of violin, rhythms of guitar, to majestic splendour of the piano. Masterpieces of infinite difficulty flow seamlessly from their fingers without a single hitch. My mind simply cannot fathom how one can find it so easy to do.

Art is another of my passions. There are so many ways to put one’s imagination down on paper. Grand scale paintings on canvas beg me to run my fingers ever so lightly over their rough surfaces to check if they are indeed, a painting. To watch someone painting fills me with curiosity. How did the artist know the tree needed one extra stroke right there to look perfect? Or that the whimsical look could be achieved by erasing that tiny spot from the portrait’s face? What causes their hand to move so deftly, so confidently, knowing that their finished work will look exactly as they pictured it? Amazing!

Even art in the world of cyberspace holds the same intrigue for me. Such painstaking work it is; adjusting layer by layer, adding pieces to the masterpiece as one adds pieces to a puzzle. Adjusting lights and shades, colours and contrasts; one element at a time until a stack of different photos emerge as one breathtaking scene of fantasy or space. Where one click would not appear any different from another to an observer; the artist of the work knows that that one click is what the image needs to be perfect.

As I write this, the talents of many continue to flow: from cooking to dancing, sport to sewing, dog training to horse-riding, writing to acrobatics- it is mind boggling... incomprehensible to one who could not possibly do it all! Everyone has been given something they can do better than I can. Isn’t that incredible? What a privilege to be the witness of what God has placed in your lives! I am so grateful that so many people allow me to share in their talents by sharing them with me.

It is during times like these where I am grateful for my talent of writing, so that I can capture them all in so many words. 

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