She has the gift of mercy.

He has the gift of discernment.

The honor student has the gift of intellect.

That pageant queen has the gift of beauty.

That football player has the gift of physical ability.

Often, we assume that people like this were just born with natural God-given talent.

When I was growing up, I had a piano teacher who could play by ear. He could listen to a song for just a moment and then sit at the piano and play it perfectly. He didn’t need sheet music or multiple hours of practice. He just listened and played. When I was in junior high school, I had a friend who could do the same thing. She never had a piano lesson in her life. In fact, she didn’t even the know the names of the keys on the piano. Middle C, possibly, but that was it. Yet, she could play the piano as though she had been playing it for years. Any top 40 song that was on the radio, she could play. She was considered the rock star of music in our school. My piano teacher and my friend had been given the gift of music.

I have a friend now who is also considered a rock star of music. She is a concert pianist. I love to listen to her play. Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky all seem to come to life again when she sits at the piano. What a gift. What talent.

However, unlike my friend from junior high school or my childhood piano teacher, my concert pianist friend had invested hours upon hours and years upon years of training before she could play the piano so well. She endured raw fingertips from striking those keys for hours on end as she would practice. She invested years of training through piano lessons when she was growing up and continued in her development of music as a piano major in college.

If we listened to my piano teacher, my friend from junior high school, and my concert pianist friend play the piano, we would conclude that each had been gifted with musical ability. Yet, if my concert pianist friend listened to a song on the radio and then tried to play it without any sheet music, she wouldn’t be able to play the song. Does that mean she really hasn’t been gifted with musical ability?

Although some people just seem to be born with natural talents, I believe they are the exception, not the norm. We have all been gifted by God to do certain things well. Some may excel in those things naturally, but most of us learn to do things with great success through years of practice, as well as mistakes, setbacks, and stumbles we experience along the way.

That person with the gift of mercy may be someone who went through many trials and tribulations in her life. Through those difficult times, she developed a tenderness in her heart for others. The pain she experienced in her own life is what God used to help bring about the mercy and compassion she so beautifully portrays toward others now.

The person with the gift of discernment may be someone who had to learn to seek God’s guidance the hard way. Continuous mistakes and the consequences that came out of those mistakes is the very thing that finally brought this guy to the place he is today–waiting on God and searching for His wisdom.

And the honor student who seems to “ace” every test she takes, may actually be someone who spends hours with her nose in the books. She doesn’t study because she doesn’t have anything better to do with her time–but because God allowed her to learn that if she doesn’t study properly for tests, she can fail them.

“For He who began a good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion” (Phil 1:6.) God may have very well gifted you with mercy, intellect, discernment or any other talent you possess. But He is bringing it to completion through the challenges, disappointments, failed attempts, and heart breaks you experience along the way.

Your giftedness may be natural, raw talent that is “just there.” Or your gifts may be something you have to work really hard at in order to experience success. Either way, the expression of your talent is to be used for His glory.  “ … Each of you has received a gift in order to serve others. You should use it faithfully” (1 Peter 4:10.)