God has blessed each and every one of us with wonderful talents, great or small. In Romans 12 Paul talks about the diversity of gifts in the Church. We all need to actively search for our God-given gifts and seek ways to glorify our Heavenly Father with the blessings He has given us.

I have recently worked on this in my own life. Like we all do, I have many different interests. One of these for me is piano—I absolutely love playing the piano. I started when I was 7 but quit after two or three years. Then at 14 I suddenly wanted to learn one of my favorite songs on piano. As I started playing again, I truly rediscovered this passion of mine. I practiced every day for at least an hour, not because I had to, but because I wanted to.

Several years later, I reached a crucial point in my life: choosing a career path. Engineering had always been in the back of my mind, but after enjoying piano as a major hobby, I was entertaining the thought of pursuing a career as a pianist instead. I found myself at a crossroads. I seriously counted the checks and balances of each option. I prayed to God, asked advice from my parents and researched both job outlooks. In doing so, I found that a lot of stress comes with a career as a classical pianist, and the salary seemed low to me. Many factors pointed toward engineering. My father is a mechanical engineer, it has a good job outlook, and I enjoy the topics of math and science. Thus I made the decision to pursue computer engineering. It was another field I enjoyed, so it wasn’t like I made a compromise between something I absolutely loved and something I hated. Nor did I make my decision based strictly on salary or career stability. I had a genuine interest in computers, for I was (and still am!) a nerd who played with computers and video games. I also love building things and figuring out how and why they work. From these factors, I concluded that computer engineering would be a fun yet challenging career path.

After I made a concrete decision, everything seemed to click, as if God’s hands were at work within my life. I was blessed with several scholarships, professors favored me and let me have time off for the Holy Days, and so far my semesters have worked out well.

So what does all this have to do with the topic of using our gifts? I recently realized that “talents” that I have (like piano), though they may not directly relate to my career path in this physical world, can be utilized for a greater and far better purpose—for the glorification of God! Concerning piano, I’ve realized I need to devote more to special music and performing with the choir. Witnessing the unity of the choir’s combined talents to praise God, and being a part of it, has given me greater joy and purpose, knowing that I’m a part of something bigger than myself. Now that I’ve changed my focus around playing piano to serve God and the brethren, I feel like I’m thriving and playing better than ever! Taking these steps ultimately helped me develop a better relationship with our Heavenly Father. It helped me further recognize that God has blessed me with so much, and that His plans for my gifts are better than whatever I could imagine. I’m learning to submit to God, to be patient and wait on Him. Being close to God is the best success of all!

Remember to keep your focus on God. Rather than using your gifts for yourself and your wants, shift your viewpoint to use your gifts to honor Him. Be a willing servant, asking God to mold you into what He has in store for you. As the Scripture says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). All things, including our gifts, are ultimately His and come back to Him: “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36).