You’ve Been Gifted Something, So Use It

We should always strive to steward the gifts we have within ourselves, given to us by the grace of the Almighty. While you may not believe in the divine, this is where I place my hope and understanding on the nature of the gifts we have.

Our gifts identify us by identity itself in this life, and what we choose to do. There are things we are good at that maybe someone else isn't so good at, but there are things that another person may be skilled in that we could never hope to be even close to the same level as they are in their field.

Whatever the case may be, the point is that we need to steward our gifts well.

We are each given something we have innately within us, something that will help change the world and shape it into the way it is meant to be. I've studied the ancient mysticism of Kabbalah, and from what I understand, we are meant to repair the world in some way with the gifts we have, shining our light and increasing light in this world.

In all actuality, if you look at the first words of Genesis, it could be read, “Let it become light.”

This is not my own idea, so I must give credit where it is due. I saw a unique perspective on this from the rabbis in the Chabad movement, and I thought it was quite interesting.

Our gifts help to fill the world with the light it needs.

There is something different about each one of our individual talents, and we should never envy what another person has. May it never be like this for all the days we walk this sphere.

Think about it like a band, right? Each instrument has its part to play, the vocalist has their part to play, and all of it forms together to make a coherent song.

But what if the guitar envied the bass, or the bass envied the drums? Or, as part of the drums, what if the cymbal envied the bass drum?

There would be discordant vibrations instead of actual sound because each instrument is supposed to play its part, not make a cacophony of incoherent sounds.

Our gift is our identifying mark in this world, and using it, we will help the world repair.

Now, I don't believe we can repair everything in the world. I'm not that naïve, but I also believe in using the gifts we have received for the benefit of others.

For me personally, I write for the glory of God, helping to bring ideas into a molded form that's tangible, something that comes from my own mind.

When I write something, I want it to have meaning, depth, and intricacy.

There are layers to my writing that have secondary and tertiary meanings on top of the literal meaning of the text. That's how I believe writing should be, because I'm influenced by Hebrew scripture in a lot of what I do.

I find the poetry of the Scriptures to be quite beautiful, and I want to emulate that in my own writing using my own unique aesthetic designs.

I write because it is the gift I was given, and while I wasn't always the best writer in the world—and still, I am not—I believe using it instead of letting it sit dormant is the best way forward.

I write fiction, nonfiction, and different sorts of essays, and all of them form a grand narrative unit of the mind of Bryan Rivera-Rivera.

Someone else will not be me, as the person I am with my particular gift.

There are other writers out there who have their own style of writing, and I find that beautiful.

There are chefs out there. There are firefighters. There are people who risk their lives on the front lines so that nations stay free.

All of us have our individual roles to play in this world, and to look at what another person is doing, or what another person has that you don't, is not the way to be.

True trust in that which has been given to you means you're not worried about how far somebody else is going or whether they're ahead of you.

To truly trust your gift means you've inclined yourself to understand you were given the gift, so you use what you have available to you.

To compare yourself to another person is not a position you want to be in. It makes no sense to envy another person, and I want everyone to win. I want all people to succeed.

I've written before (in other places) that we should look at life as a symphony instead of a race.

Everyone has their individual piece of music they're playing, and they follow the whims of the conductor. You must stick to the music that is written and not deviate in order to have the intended effect.

In the same way, I believe in staying in your own lane in a positive sense.

While this can be a negative insult in some ways when someone tells you to stay in your own lane, it can also be a beautiful thing to do.

I am supposed to write. What I am not meant for is playing professional baseball. I don't have that ability within myself. Now, I'm not saying I couldn't do it as a leisure activity, but I will never be a professional baseball player, and that's totally fine with me.

That's not what I'm meant to do in the world.

I have found what it is I'm meant to do, and my wish is for everyone to find what it is they are also meant to do.

I think the truly successful inspire each other and collaborate instead of tearing people down.

I've never understood worrying about someone else's gift.

A professional tennis player is superb at tennis. What does that do for my writing?

I can use their tenacity in building their bodies in such a way that it helps them play their sport, in the same way that, in my writing life, I can use what I have learned and crafted over the years to make better books.

But I'm not physically swinging a racket.

It doesn't compute.

When you keep your own sense of duty to what it is you're gifted at, you don't worry about everybody else. You do what you have to do.

Don't fall for comparisons.

There's no sense in keeping up with the Joneses, and who are they anyway?

Who are these mysterious Joneses?

I know nothing about that.

What I know is that our abilities are refined through focus, discipline, self-determination, and a refusal to quit.

I'm the type of person who will wait decades to get to where I want to be.

I've learned that sort of patience over time, and it only makes me inspired to be in expectation of those things on the farther horizon.

I'm a man who's willing to wait for what it is he wants because I understand things don't come overnight.

Every overnight success you see, you didn't see the hours upon hours they practiced.

You didn't see the time spent day after day, night after night, refining that craft in such a way that it becomes marketable and at a proper level.

You don't see any of those things.

There's no such thing as an overnight success. You might see it happen overnight, sure, but I don't believe in overnight.

I believe in night after night.

Maybe other people believe differently. That's fine with me. They can believe what they want.

I'm going to do what I'm meant to do in this world and continue following my gift.

I believe gifts open doors for us when we properly use them. I don't know the timing on certain doors in my life, but I'm going to walk through the open ones while I have them open.

That's what my gift is. It's part of my open-door policy to the future.

I'm willing to sacrifice a little bit of comfort, some sort of entertainment, for the result of making my gift shine like a brilliant gemstone that has been refined through the process of cutting it into shape.

Again, there's no sense in comparing ourselves to someone else because their path is their path, and ours is ours.

My path might take me through the ocean and then across a few mountains, while another person's path might be on a circular racetrack, and I have no say in why that might be.

What I do know, though, is that I'm going to follow my path with its hardships, with all the rough terrain that comes with it.

If I have to hike my way up something super difficult, I am willing to do that.

I'm willing to do the work it takes to get to the level I want to be at.

So trust the gift inside you, whatever it may be.

It's unique to you, but I promise you, if you follow that gift, if you walk through the open door, it will all make sense in the end.

Depend on your gifts.

Look to what it is you have within yourself and cross the path you alone are meant to walk.

There are many roads out there that lead to nowhere, but because your gift is the mechanism of propulsion to slingshot you into a rendezvous with destiny, choose that direction.