Sculpting the Gift


We all have talents. Or whatever it is you like to call them. Gifts. Aptitudes. Abilities. Skills.

No matter the word, we all have them.

The amazing thing, is that they are so completely and wonderfully varied. Diverse. Some people are amazing with a needle and thread. Others can paint beautiful landscapes. Or fruit. There are those with green thumbs, who are able to grow that fruit. Still others can run like the wind, or hit a baseball, every time.

But then within each talent, there are different degrees. Some people can bake corn pone, and then there are a gifted few who can really “make some corn pone.” Or rebuild carburetors. Or design skyscrapers.

I’m reminded about all of this because today is Michelangelo’s birthday. He came into this world, on a March 6th, in the year 1475. Then, 88 years later, he left again. On a February 18.

Old Mike had some talent. There is no question about it. He could paint the heck out of anything. And give him a block of marble? Forggeddddaboudddit. The Sistine Chapel, David, the Pietà, The Last Judgement. And he didn’t have just one masterpiece. There were dozens upon dozens of works that were astounding. I love his painting “Jeremiah.” And “Isaiah.” And more.

Michelangelo is when mere talent becomes Genius. The brilliant.

Truthfully, I am not sure if it “becomes” that way or not. Maybe it started out in that form.

Can you imagine his parents? Mr. & Mrs. Michelangelo? For the record, his father’s name was Ludovico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni. His mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena. I don’t know why, back then, they couldn’t just have names like Lou and Fran. But they didn’t. Anyway, his Mom died when he was six. Mike went to live with a nanny, and her husband. The nanny-husband happened to be a stone cutter. Go figure.

But, I wonder, if as a little kid, he would be in the living room, by himself for a while. And then Fran would walk in, and say, “Lou. He’s been at it again. This time it is the entire ceiling! Yes. The ceiling. The whole thing covered in paint.”

Yep. Or.

“Lou, he’s chiseled another face in the wall. This one is creepy. It’s eyes follow you no matter where you walk. Yes, I gave him the baseball. He painted it blue and green and not its hanging from the ceiling.”

I bet that’s how it was.

Yes. Michelangelo had talent to the millionth degree. We only get those people on the planet every now and again. I’m not sure why, but I wish we’d pay special attention to them while they are here.

But each of us has a gift. I am sure of that. And, no matter what it is, we should use it. I suppose. Clearly, my gift is NOT brushing with the Sonic Care Toothbrush. I guess it is good to acknowledge our limitations too.

But. Once we find that thing, or things, that we are good at, we should use it. Use it just for the fact that it is there. When it comes to the surface, it will, undoubtedly, make the world a better place. Somehow. It will.

As trite as it may sound, there is a bulb underground right now. Laying in wait. And its talent is the ability to grow. In a few weeks, it will break through the surface of the dirt. And then — there — for all the world to see, will be a tulip. In all its glory and splendor. And for a short while we can all see that beauty, and that majesty. And our world is better for it.

Today, whatever it is you do, make the world better for it.


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“Everyone has a gift for something, even if it is the gift of being a good friend.”
― Marian Anderson

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“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it. ”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“Being gifted doesn’t mean you’ve been given something. It means, you have something to give.”
― pleasefindthis, I Wrote This For You

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