Gifts in Community

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In this episode, Cydni and Sher discuss the importance of recognizing and utilizing spiritual gifts to enrich our communities. They highlight the need to overcome fear and comparison, focusing instead on the positive impact of sharing our unique talents. The episode includes inspiring stories of individuals using their gifts to bring joy and support to others, emphasizing that such actions foster happiness and a sense of belonging. This episode is "Gifts in Community" and we are so glad you're here! 

This Week's Challenge
This week, we challenge you to set down the plate at the buffet of fear and instead focus on using your God-given gifts and talents—because as the Parable of the Talents reminds us, those who multiply their gifts are not only blessed but invited to enter into the joy of their Lord.

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Show Notes

Drip-Drip Drop, Words and  Music by  Matt Hoiland
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Transcript

Episode 109 - Community

Cydni: [00:00:00] You know, she, we have been talking about spiritual gifts, so I have to share with you that my daughter has really been locked in to her talents and her gifts.

For instance, we sat in a doctor's office today and she said, could I please play on your phone? I'm so bored. And it had been of course, like 35 seconds, and I said, no, it's good for your brain to be bored. It promotes creativity. And she said, I'm not interested. Creativity. Right now we're in a doctor's office and I said, well, too bad you can't play my phone.

You need to express yourself and come up with clever ideas of how to entertain yourself. That's what I did when I was a child, because we didn't have the things that you have these days. And she said, yeah, but you had a whole lot of other things. And I said, like, what? And she said. Dinosaurs 

Sher: Cydni, I don't really know what that has to do with spiritual gifts. 

Cydni: Oh, her spiritual gift is humbling. Others. Oh. 

Sher: all right. Cydni. Today we're gonna continue talking [00:01:00] about spiritual gifts, but today we wanna focus on how our spiritual gifts can help make our communities better. 

Cydni: Yes, we've talked a lot about spiritual gifts and using them and it's been nice feeling. we've been positive to each other. We've told each other's positive spiritual gifts that they might have. We've talked about that God loves us and he wants us to have gifts and he wants us to receive them. But today we said we were gonna get share teacher Serious. there's uhoh because there's some pretty big threats out there if you don't use your gifts.

So we're going to change the vibe from Feel good to get serious. Yeah. And we're the perfect people to do this. Yeah. Because we're so serious. but because that's a lie and we're not the perfect people for this. We have turned to others to help us. This all comes from a talk that I accidentally stumbled on and accidentally kept listening to, even though it was hurting my feelings.

And it's called Our Talent's A Choice Gift. It's by Franklin Richards. And he's kind of [00:02:00] brutal in this. I mean, he shares scriptures, which can be brutal sometimes, but he shares right away from D and c 60, but with some I am not well pleased for, they have not opened their mouths, but they hid the talent, which I have given them because of the fear of men wo and to such. For mine, anger is kindled against them. Yikes. Not warm and fuzzy. Any continues being said, and it shall come to pass. If they are not more faithful unto me, it shall be taken away. Even that which I have given them. How's that make you feel? 

Sher: It makes me feel pretty crappy because we are still chickens.

Cydni: So this is a mirror episode. Mm-hmm. And. there's nothing like being motivated by someone taking something away from you. you just wanna hold onto it. Like the talents, the one that has just one. Yeah. Yeah. he wants to hold onto it and keep it safe, but at the point where it's like, Hey, you can't have that anymore.

 And he continues. He doesn't stop there, he says, and then we are charged that thou shall not idle away thy time. Neither shall [00:03:00] thou bury thy talent that it may not be known. then he wraps up this just one paragraph with the Savior evidence. Little regard For this lawful servant, he expects us to work, to use our initiative. The scriptures clearly emphasize our obligation to use and develop the gifts and talents we have been blessed with, or shall we say, to develop the spark of divinity within us. one thing I did like is he referred to spiritual gifts as the thought of a divine trust.

 And I really liked the phrase divine trust. It shows that this is a gift from God, but it's also a responsibility and an obligation to use it or we will lose it. And I think this might tie together, it might not, but I'm going to say it anyway. I was listening to a female preacher and she asked the congregation, who here knows our mission statement? And nobody knew it. And then I wondered, does my church have a mission statement? And because of that question, I did some [00:04:00] research in my own faith and I saw something that I really liked that does kind of go with this. It said that our mission is to bring people unto Christ and to know God's love the way to do that is by sharing that with others. The way that we draw closer to God is by sharing God's love with others, and I think that really does kind of already encompass the idea of our gifts and our talents. It's to bring people to God. 

Sher: And that's what we wanna focus on today, is bringing people together in our various communities. And we do that by sharing our spiritual gifts that God has trusted us with. We've talked about in one Corinthians chapter 12. God has given us a variety of gifts including the gifts of healing, wisdom, faith, tongues, prophecy, and it's really important that we have all of these because just like our body, we need all the parts.

If we're missing something that doesn't usually work out so well. So we need all the parts to make your body complete, and . The same thing works with all of our gifts. If we [00:05:00] want our communities to work, whether it's your community at your home, or maybe at work or your town, your city, or your church, if you want them to work, then we need to use our gifts to make a complete body , in that community.

But communities thrive when we value the contributions of every member and not just those popular or visible gifts. All of our gifts are valuable and someone needs it, and that's why God gave it to all of us. So there is a reason that we have those spiritual gifts, so we need to be brave.

We need to actually use them because we need each other. I went to a conference about a month ago it was for a business. And in it they were talking about proven factors to help productivity in business. do you know what the number one key factor is in being productive at work? Do you have any guesses? Caffeine? Yes, I knew it, actually Cydni, the number one factor of productivity is if your employees are happy. So [00:06:00] if people are happy, they are more productive and they even put happiness up against some pretty big stuff. They put it up against pay benefits. Bonuses, recognition, all of those things lost to being happy at work.

 So they did more research what makes people happy? I was gonna just ask you that now we're just talking at work. The number one driver of being happy at work is feeling a connection when you're there. So I just had this thought in our neighborhood or church or in our community, do you feel connected? And then my next question is, what are you. Me, all of us, what are we doing to create those connections? What are we doing to make others feel needed and loved?

What are we doing with that divine trust that God gave us to build unity and connection in your home, in your church, and in your community? And we've learned that the secret ingredient to being happy is serving others. Using our gifts to serve others leads to more [00:07:00] happiness. And then using our gifts for service also gives us a purpose, which again leads to more happiness.

 So the more happy we are, the more productive we're gonna be, which means we are going to serve more, which then providing service to others helps to make people feel like they belong in your family, in your church, your neighborhood, your community, and then you and me. Become happier as we serve.

 So it's like this awesome cycle that we can create. So if we wanna create these better communities, we need to use our spiritual gifts and encourage others to use their gifts as well, because it will make things better around you and help to create a better community for you. I thought that was interesting, that the more we put into it, the better we're gonna get at it, right? We already know this. And it will also make us more happy and make our communities better. 

Cydni: I liked your questions. They weren't, what can someone do for me to make me feel connected? But it was, what can I do? That one? It's nice to feel in control of it, and two, sometimes [00:08:00] when we're feeling disconnected, I. I think it's easy to feel offended or hurt or left out, but the truth of it is that we can take control of it and we can start serving.

We could be the ones to introduce ourselves to our neighbors and get to know them whether it's at church or whether it is just on a walk something I stumbled across for this episode was on the road with Steve Hartman.

Have you heard of this before? A newscaster? Nope. It's the best thing on social media. He shares several stories. He goes across America for good hearted stories, and it's focused on things people are doing in their communities. So I have to share a few of my favorites with you. 

One of the first stories I stumbled across was there was a woman named Melody who had some rehab, and when the bill came, she noticed something very interesting on the bill. Her name is Melody, and someone had drawn little musical notes on her bill.

And she thought, that's weird. How did that happen? You don't [00:09:00] usually get something like that on a bill? Well, the next month, Another bill came in and there was another drawing on it, and every single month, the drawings got more and more elaborate to the point that one of the final ones was a full painted picture of a school bus going through a neighborhood with flowers and trees.

 Someone in that office was taking time every single day to draw a picture, and she loved it. She said, never in her life had she ever. Been so excited to receive a bill. And so she called the office and she had to ask, do you have an artist in this building? And she heard, Emily, it's for you. And there was an elderly woman who worked there who liked to doodle, and she would spend time doodling on people's bills so that at least they're getting a bill. It would be a little brighter to receive. 

Sher: I don't know if that would make me happier. I'd be like, could you bring down my bill price? 

Cydni: Can you erase some of that? Yes. Those numbers there. Exactly. 

Sher: Yes. [00:10:00] Use those skills to get rid of some zeros.

Cydni: Right. Come on, Emily, get it together. Gimme what I really want. , but really like if you listen to this lady, it is the sweetest thing. She just doesn't really need to work, but she works and she just puts her little touch on everything she does she brightens this woman's day.

They become friends after , the bills paid off and she doesn't get any more artwork in the mail. They start getting together and they have coffee, and I thought that is such a cool way to use a little gift. To build a community. And there was another story of a gentleman who had just recently installed a security camera, and he was kind of excited to get notified and he did. Immediately there was notification of an intruder, but when he looked at his phone to see , what was going on in his front yard, it was a 4-year-old boy riding his bike in a little circle in his driveway.

And then he was on his merry way. Well, it happened every single day. Every day. About the same time. There was a little 4-year-old boy doing a little circle and moving on to the next house. [00:11:00] This man said, well, I've had enough of this. I'm trying to watch Netflix and my alarms going off every day.

He's watching Netflix at work. He was at home. Oh, sorry. I thought he was at work. He might've been at work. He's fired now. So the night before he goes outside and he uses chalk and he draws a track for the 4-year-old boy, and he couldn't wait for it to go off the next day.

And it did. the little boy was so excited he went on the trail like 15 times in a row until his mother continued on and every time it snowed or the weather changed, he. Went outside and drew a new track. The news picked it up, and then other people were shown in his yard on the track that he had.

So there was someone on a moped, a scooter, roller blades, a group of people walking it, then other neighbors joined in and there was tracks on everyone's driveway for everyone to walk. I loved that one. . And there's one more I had to share , this one was particularly sweet to me . Dr. Z, he is a doctor in Boston and he says, I love people, and this was the motivation for everything he [00:12:00] did, and what they would say about him is that it wasn't just his joy and enthusiasm that would set him apart, but it was also his pricing. He would say, can't pay. That's okay. Forget that dollar bill. I'm going to see you no matter what. You walk through that door, I'm going to see you. Bring your grandma too.

So he would treat people who didn't have insurance and couldn't afford things. He didn't care. He said that he went into medicine because he loved people and he wanted to help and he was in a community that didn't have a lot. Dr. Z. However, a few months after the interview was diagnosed with cancer and unfortunately he did not have insurance.

He had given away all of his time and money that he didn't have any. Oh my gosh. he couldn't afford to treat his cancer. Well, the community, they changed everything for him. They turned the table. They thought if all of us come together, we could give back to Dr. Z. And they did. Little by little in a community that didn't have much, they were able to come up with [00:13:00] enough money for him to do his cancer treatments and he did win his battle with cancer and the money that was left over, he didn't keep, he put it right back into the community.

When he talks about it, he says, it might sound crazy, but I'm so grateful that I had this cancer because listen to the story, America. This is what this is about. It is about serving, it is about giving. This man never went on a vacation as a doctor in his entire life. He gave everything, but when the time was needed for someone to help him, he had a community behind his back and he said, with tears in his eyes, I can't make it without them. And they cannot make it without me. these stories. They're just, they're heartwarming. But it to me illustrates that we don't need to have a massive, huge talent that is marketable.

What we need is to use our love and our joy and our willingness to serve. And it's these little things that can build such a strong community and all of a magnify God's love. 

Sher: This is the reason [00:14:00] why it is so important that we overcome our fear and we share our gifts because this truly is what builds communities taking all of our gifts and putting 'em together so that God can make something magnificent and beautiful.

Like the examples that you just gave. That's what he wants us to do. And so if you're like me and Cydni. and you're afraid to share your gifts because we're afraid of what people might say or we're afraid of being stupid or whatever. There is a purpose for it, and there is a reason God wants us to share it.

So I was watching, I haven't watched American Idol in, I don't know, years, Cydni, just years upon years. But it happened to just be turned on in front of me while I was working on some stuff and something Lionel Richie said really caught my attention 'cause it was a throat punch. So Lionel Richie was talking to this person who apparently earlier in the season was super shy and had a really hard time coming outta their shell.

 But he was pointing out how much better this contestant had become and [00:15:00] how they were breaking out of their shell and becoming more confident. this is what he said that I thought was really important for me. 

He said that every one of the judges up there have all felt fear. And fear is something that every single one of them felt the very first time they sang in front of a group of people and then they felt the very first time they sang at a big venue and then they felt fear every time they came out with a new song.

And they felt fear every time they went in front of a large crowd. But every one of the judges learn how to accept that there is fear. But they learned it's worth fighting through it. So I was just thinking about this in my own life because I see myself as a chicken, but the way he put it, this is what I thought of.

I taught in a middle school, I. For 32 years, Cydni, and there was never, ever in all of those 32 times that I had a first day of school that I wasn't nervous. I was nervous every single time. In the weeks before the first day of school, I would always have nightmares.

I would get so [00:16:00] nervous and I would always think this is gonna be the year the kids are gonna hate me, or this is gonna be the year that I'm gonna hate all my classes, or this is the year that I'm gonna forget how to teach and I'm not gonna be able to do anything and the kids are gonna be outta control and I will be able to calm 'em down.

Or this is the year that the kids are gonna be extra mean. Or this is the year that I'm gonna suddenly hate teaching and be a jerk and have no patience. It's gonna be miserable for everyone. Or this is the year I'm gonna have parents that are outta control and they're always telling me that I'm doing something wrong or I need to do something extra special for their extra special kid and they're gonna drive me crazy and. The first week was always exhausting. That never stopped one because I was just out of practice. 'cause you have summer break and then you gotta get back into it.

But also because being nervous and afraid is exhausting. And so by the end of the week, I was always a big pile of blah because that was just a kick in the butt but what did every teacher do? Because every teacher feels the same way. 90% of teachers feel the same way that first week of school, so why did I do this every [00:17:00] year? Because I knew that I had got through it before and I would do it again, And even though I was afraid, I learned that every year things would get better as the year goes on, and I would get over it. It was my job. And so I learned to get over the fear. So my question to myself is. I've seen myself do this with teaching. Why can't I apply that to other aspects of my life? Because I know I can do it when I have to. But why sometimes do I say, on this spiritual gift, I'm just gonna go ahead and hide it. 'cause I don't wanna deal with the fear I could do it. I've done it in other aspects. I think maybe that's something for us to think about. I. 

Cydni: I agree. And for myself, fear is the top. When I ask myself, what holds me back the most from sharing talents or gifts and it's fear, then I thought there's so many different kinds of fear, so that's nice.

There's a whole buffet for us to choose from, and I just pile that plate up with fear of judgment and failure and whatever else my creative brain can come up with. I like that. Thank you. The Fear [00:18:00] Buffet, Uhhuh overeating at the Fear Buffet. I've definitely had my fair share of that buffet.

Gulping it down. And you and I, we talk about this. Are fears and how we absolutely have to overcome it, which we have been working towards for like two years now. So good for us. But something new popped up in my head.

I was thinking, what if Christ stopped because of the same fears that we have? And okay, maybe this sounds ridiculous and I don't even know if it's blasphemous. So I'm just gonna move forward. I'm not afraid of blasphemy, just judgment.

Sher: I'm just gonna back up and when the lightning strikes, hopefully it just hits you. Rudy and I will be on the other side of the room. Continue. I 

Cydni: should probably choose my fears better. That's our intent today. Fear God over other stuff, guys. But I really did think, what if Christ stopped his mission because what he was afraid of, who he was, like an imposter syndrome am I really God's child?

What if that stopped him? That stops us. [00:19:00] We feel like we're imposters. Who am I to do this? Or what if he was too worried that people would judge him or people wanna understand him or maybe that he would get hurt.

I was thinking of all those things and I thought the greatest teacher of all, did overcome any kind of fear he face to face-to-face. Satan overcame fear. And why would he do that? He did it for us. there was a bigger payoff to do it, and sometimes I feel like we stay in fear because it's more comfortable to stay in this comfortable fear.

We're so familiar with and we focus on that. We don't focus on what could happen. That's good. We focus on the negative of this might happen and we have to somehow overcome that fear. Go through it like Lionel Richie said. Or Jesus both said that we have to continue forward.

I'm gonna take Jesus on that one if it's okay. And in the same talk I mentioned before, , he does address fear and he shares there were fears in your heart and this is the reason you [00:20:00] did not receive. And I like that he said We must overcome fear must.

I like the idea that with our dreams and our goals and our talents to change from, I'd like to do these things to, we must do these things for ourself and for our community. And can I just add something? I think fear is a huge reason we don't wanna share. And also comparison. I learned this lesson last night when there was a friend of ours who wanted to just discuss religion he came over and he was talking to Ben about. The deeper doctrine of the gospel, I listen to my husband explain things that I've never heard before in such a beautiful and flawless way. He can remember things. It blows my mind if I read a paragraph, I'll forget it. 

Sher: We both do that in the podcast. We can't remember what we said 10 seconds earlier. 

Cydni: Correct. And that's probably why we have like repeated episodes on accident 'cause we can't 

Sher: remember anything 

Cydni: but Ben's not like that. He could tell you the history of this and that off the top of his head and he could tell [00:21:00] you something he learned in fifth grade. I don't even know if I actually went to school in fifth grade. I don't remember. There's a big chance I did. But I'm not sure. And it was a really awesome and spiritual experience until.

I kind of started feeling like I wish I was like that, and I sat there listening to him and the man that had these really big questions said, thank you so much for explaining it this way. I've never heard someone explain it and it answers questions, and I didn't feel jealous. But I did. I felt like I was missing out, like I just wanna be more like that.

And the rest of the night I was like, how do I become more doctrinal like him? I would like to understand the Bible as well as he did, and he knew where places were on the map. I don't know if I could tell you where Florida is, and I just sat there listening to him. And then I started thinking about how I wasn't that, and it made me kind of feel sad about myself that maybe I should have studied more and then maybe I could talk like Ben. And then suddenly I just felt this feeling of [00:22:00] that is not who I need you to be though. Ben and I both shared thoughts and ideas, but mine were completely different. Like were my jokes better than Ben? Yes, obviously, of course. And sometimes you need that relief, you know? But I thought we did work together well.

And there was such a good spirit there until I was worried about comparing, then I thought of this episode and I thought, you know, that is a big reason a lot of us don't share is we're so focused on what someone else can give.

And we wanna give the same thing, but that is not our role. Our role is to share what's in us and who we are and our own gifts and our own talents. Like you said in the beginning, we all have different pieces of the body, and if everyone wants to be the left hand, we're not gonna get very far. So we need that left hand, but we need that left foot too.

 And to tie that up. Recently I heard that Sherry De was going to speak at a conference in Idaho she had asked everybody to please send in what your spiritual gifts are. She didn't end up speaking because she fell sick, but she sent out to everybody an [00:23:00] email with. People's gifts on them, and there was over 250 gifts listed. Some people had the same ones, so there is plenty of people that had the same gift, but there was over 250 different ones. My takeaway from that is in our communities and our churches and our homes, there are so many people that have so many amazing gifts and abilities that if we could figure out how to combine and come together, we could make things different. We could bring forth such a beautiful and powerful feeling, and with one purpose, we can make real changes and bring God's love into the world in a better way than it's ever been done before. We are surrounded by so much power. 

Sher: We truly are. And it's just a matter of not only us being brave and sharing it, but other people accepting it and encouraging it. We don't wanna be those middle school kids that all they can do is make fun of other people, because that's what middle school kids do. We need to grow out of that and accept and encourage people's gifts so that our communities can become better. 

Cydni: And [00:24:00] one more time going back to the talk. I also like something he said that stood out to me. He said, we should be concerned with how best to develop our gifts and our talents. This, to me, what it spoke to my heart was that it needs to be a priority. We need to recognize our talents and we need to use them. We are commanded to, otherwise you're gonna lose them, and then you're just gonna be alone at your fear buffet. So don't do that. He said that we need to make up our minds to pay the price necessary to develop them.

The price to be paid includes faith, study persistence. What came to my mind was action. And then what came to my mind again was that faith is action. I think a lot of us have so much of those beginning steps where we study and we pray and we stop. Recently I heard someone say that more testimonies have been gained by bearing your testimony than by praying for a testimony. It is the action that matters. 

Sher: when you were talking about action, the thought came [00:25:00] to my mind of a student that I had he is one of my all time favorite students, he was just a nice person. Everyone in the school, students, teachers, all loved him because he was nice. It didn't matter who you were, he was just genuinely a good, kind, decent kid. He was also a really smart kid and he noticed a few things. We have the homeless shelter in our school boundary, and so he went to school with kids that were homeless in middle school and high school. When he got into high school, he noticed something.

He noticed that when teachers, his parents, his neighbors came back from conferences, that they always had those bags. With. A bunch of stuff piled in it. And then like me, when I would go to a conference, I'd always bring the bags back and just give them to my students because I didn't want all of them.

 he noticed this is what everyone did. So he had an idea. He started collecting all those bags. he got 'em from his. Teachers, he got 'em from his parents. He drove to conference centers [00:26:00] and got all the extra bags he could find, and then he took them to homeless shelters and gave them to them so that when the people arrive at the homeless shelter, , they had a bag full of necessities to get them on their feet. They had bags to put all of these things in. Plus the people that were in the homeless shelter now had bags. To keep the few things that they did have in it. Then he also went to the food centers and they did the same thing so that people had a bag to put their food in as they left.

He saw a need and then he used his gifts that God gave him to fill a need in our community. He just did that on his own. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing. . He saw a need in our community and he decided he could do something about it he wasn't afraid. This kid ended up on a TED Talk because of doing this. He's such an amazing person. And he truly is one of the happiest people that I have ever met, and it's because he was so kind and was willing to serve wherever it was needed.

[00:27:00] Everything we've been talking about sums his personality up. He was willing to put things into action. He was willing to use his gifts and he was willing to use those gifts he had, that God had given him to help build a better community. 

Cydni: We challenge you this week to put down the plate at the buffet of fear. Don't pick it up this week. We challenge you to be concerned. with your gifts and your talents that are yours to share. Something I noticed when I read the Parable of the Talents this time was two things. One, that those who use their talents, their talents were multiplied. But more than that. I noticed the last sentence after their talents were magnified. It says, , enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

Sher: And now for our final thoughts, spiritual gifts are a divine trust. God gives them to us for a reason, whether it's the gift of healing, wisdom, faith, kindness, or simply the intention to do good. Our communities are better when we use what we've been given to serve and lift others, just like the body [00:28:00] needs every part to function.

Our churches, neighborhoods and families need every unique contribution, especially the quiet and unseen ones. Sometimes fear tries to hold us back, but we can learn to push through. When we use our gifts to serve, we feel connected, we find purpose, and that purpose leads to real happiness. So let's be brave. Use our gifts, encourage others to do the same. God trusts us and together we can make our communities better. This is our prayer 

Cydni: from Cydni and Cher. you either are serving, you know, like a buffet, like think this, you're at a buffet and you're either picking stuff up and putting it on your plate, like fear or [00:29:00] you're serving. Amen. That's really good. Can you just like do some like intermission music? I see that your resume is still in the notes section. If it's a warning, feel like I'm out of breath for some reason. So hard to drink a diet, Dr. Pepper. The boot is going so. And I really love, he is crazy and I'm crazy. It's the weather. So sorry, Rudy and I are on like the same brain, right? That I think right now. Are you comfortable? Are you good? You don't like this part, Rudy? Did I have a stroke? Was it you who had a stroke or me? Have a great week.