Tapped Too Soon
How to nurture your dream and gain clarity for your gifts.
One of the challenges that we have as creatives is that we do not see our gifts as trusts from God. We assume that everything should go on fine as soon as we realise that we are talented or gifted. As long as people see it in us and we've used these gifts in some places with towering accolades. You are soon covered by shiny clouds of satisfaction when actually, you should be digging. Digging takes a long time because everything you've seen as a talent is less than 1% of the actual deposit that needs to be discovered, harnessed, processed and developed into a product or service that should serve the world.
Most people have premature expectations in their discovery stage and tap too early. They want to be rewarded, fed, and sustained by their gifts when they’ve made little or no investment in that gift. That is like a parent who sends a toddler out on the streets to bring income when the toddler should be nurtured in a safe shelter. If anything hurts the kid on the street, the future of the parent is also bleak. Milking talents too early is like tapping a rubber plant when it's barely mature to feed itself.
During my industrial training as an agricultural student on the vast agricultural settlement in Epe. I asked my instructor what could affect the output of laying birds. He explained that inadequate feeding is one of the major reasons. “The first set of feed a layer pecks is to nourish the birds themselves and whatever is left goes into egg formation. The birds ensure to feed themselves first. If the birds do not have sufficient feed, they will have their normal growth but they won't be lay well” He didn't give any scientific explanation but it makes sense. If you feed the bird well enough, you don't have to worry about eggs, if you don't, the bird will use what it has to provide its own nutrients. Same way, If you nurture the talent, you'd be fine. If you don't, you will starve both the talent and yourself. Your talent is your future. It's your bread and your legend. It's your dynasty.
Refusing to grow your talent is refusing to grow yourself. Gifts are built to sustain those who build them. But they must be allowed to mature. Talents are huge. Gifts are massive even though they come with tiny bodies. If you get too excited and focus on what you'd get rather than what you should build, you will dwarf the gift.
Here are some of the specific demands I make from God regarding my gifts and I believe you should, too.
Ask God for Insight
There's a depth to what you have. The dimensions are divine. You can not see them by mere conjectures. They are too magnanimous to define. Pray for insight. The clues you pick from the marketplace are largely misleading. God didn't hang your design in the open market. They have your batch numbers on it and they are specific to you. If you believe that God gave you the gift, then He knows too much to be ignored. Insights are deep lights into the tunnel of your gifts. You cannot survive the multiple suggestions in the marketplace. They will lead you into the lonely arms of confusion even before you begin.
Ask For Wisdom
Building gifts, and working your talents requires dexterous craftsmanship. There's a way to work the soil to bring results. There's a way to deal with people and manage resources. There is a way to connect dots and navigate the season. There's a way to communicate the vision. There's a way to build. Ask for that wisdom from God. It has worked for me. The assumption that you can figure it out on your own is the reason why you are stretched and stranded.
Ask for God's Leadership
There's a place of asking people for direction and asking God for His leadership. There are many roads but you can't take every road. There are many counsel but you can't take all the counsel. There's a path that has your name on it. There's a way that leads to your destination. There's a field that grows the food that can satisfy your hunger. There's a pasture with your kind of grass. You cannot decipher these accidentally. Ask God to lead you to the way.
Sometimes you are pressed for answers. You know there must be a way but you can't find it. There must be a path but you can't find it. There's a field but you can't locate it. Ask God for it.
Ask for Light
Tell God to open your eyes to the resources you need, to fill your heart with courage. Since He’s the One that gave you the gift, ask that He shows you how to use it, how to serve it, ask Him to bless it in your hands, to make it big, to make it profitable, to make it impactful. to make it useful.
If this edition of TBS blesses you, I will ask again that you share with someone dear to you.
Have a blessed week and breakthrough from within.
-Abiola Iyiola
Creative Director, AI Leadership Consult
