I talked last time about a piano student who caused me some frustration.

Today I’ll talk about one who warms my teacherly heart. Lauren is much like I was at her age–very curious and enthusiastic and determined.

She brought two songs she had written to her lesson this week: “Let’s Get Are Skare On” and “Lulby”.

I was delighted! I tried to follow her code and we enjoyed the music together.

She also showed me worksheets she had been making–a chart for ‘The Beats’, and a staff with five lines and four spaces, just like I had shown her last week.

I told her, “The cool thing about this staff is that it’s a way everyone can play your music. Because all musicians know how to read the notes on a staff.”

This fascinated her. When I showed her where middle C is on the staff, she whipped out her paper and pen and said, “Let me write that down!” Then I showed her a G and an F, and she wanted to write those down for herself, too. She said, “This is so wonderful! Now I can write more music for everyone!”

Lauren has a gift. Her love for music and desire to understand how it works so that she can give it away isn’t something that she achieved or concocted on her own. It was placed in her hands by her Maker.

But I can assure you that not every gifted student is uninhibited about sharing her gift with the world. I’ve had other students who are incredibly talented, but shy away from ever playing their polished pieces for an audience. I love the fact that Lauren is delighted to share her gift with others.

Did you know that you have a gift, too? If you’re a Christian, you have a spiritual gift–something more supernatural than an aptitude for music or athletics or academics. It might be the gift of mercy or serving or wisdom or teaching. Whatever gift was placed in your hands was not intended for you to keep hidden away. Jesus placed it in your hands because he wanted you to share it with His Church, so that the faith of others might be built up.

Are you like Lauren? When is the last time you’ve slid onto your Teacher‘s bench, eager to understand and develop your gift? When is the last time you wrote down something He taught you, or exclaimed, “This is so wonderful! Now I can share my gift with everyone!”?

Your gift was meant to be shared, not stored. Maybe you could schedule a lesson with your Teacher this week. He’ll be delighted to see you come.