On Usefulness, Thomas and Chocolate Covered Raisins

Ultimately, I believe each of us is here to grow by learning how to share our unique gifts in a way that helps others. – Colleen Wainwright

Not too long ago, Bob Souer recommended that I check out Colleen Wainwright’s newsletter. (you should too)(and catch her podcasts with Tracy Pattin)

The Communicatrix (as she is called) helps creatively-minded peeps. After reading her newsletter – The quote above jumped out at me.
My mind jumped to Thomas the Tank Engine.

A weird leap? Perhaps.

What I remembered was that, “Thomas is a ‘Really Useful Engine”. (ok, that may be lost on you if you don’t have a 4 year old, but I do.)

What does Being Useful look like?

Using your God given talents to help others. Using all of your experiences to solve real world problems. Figuring out where you rock, then using those rockstar qualities to fix broken things.

We can’t be useful if we just sit on our… gifts and talents. What good is that?

My faith comes into play here…If you read the first chapter in the big Black book that sits on your coffee table -the Bible- it talks about God creating the world. Light, Dark, Water, Earth, Sky, Sun, Moon, Stars, Animals, Man, Woman.

But He wasn’t done. There was alot of other stuff that needed to be created. Like the pencil sharpener, and chocolate covered raisins. The man and the woman had to do some creating themselves. (Sure, it may have been a couple years before the Snuggie and the Pet Rock, but still.)

We have the ‘useful creative’ spirit inside of us.

Questions:

1. Where are you gifted/talented?

2. Where have you been used to help, or serve, or create, in the past?

3. What would you like to create, to help make happen in the future?

4. What skillz do you need to gain to make those things happen?

5. Are your dreams bigger than you?
(*hint*, if they are only about you, that’s not useful, in the ‘big picture’)

Are you a really useful engine? I think you are.

photo by thomas.merton