Giving Back to God The Talent He Has Given To Me

Monday April 7 through Thursday April 10th, you would have found me high upon the scaffolding painting this mural at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Flint Michigan. Our priest, Fr. George, had asked me last November if I would paint a garden for our beloved Mother Mary to stand in and I agreed……but didn’t commit to a time. The end of the year is always insanely busy with vending at retails shows and all the Christmas season activities. Then, for me, the beginning of the year is just as busy with licensing deadlines, however, I really wanted to get it finished before Holy week and Easter.

Once again (I say that because this is my second mural, see the article about the first one here), I was extremely nervous and had the same apprehensions and doubts floating around in my head as I did the first time, “what if I don’t get it finished in time?”, “what if Fr. George doesn’t like it?”, “what if the parishoners don’t like it?” and worst of all…..”what if I don’t like it?” I don’t know about you, but I am my own worst critic. I will work and work on something until I’m satisfied….but with this mural, I had a deadline….a set-in-stone-serious-as-a-heart-attack-deadline….I HAD to finish it before Friday’s Stations of the Cross and Lenten soup dinner.

With many prayers and lots of faith, it was completed on time. Fr. George likes it, the parishoners like it, and I, too, like it. Whew!

I will be honest, when asked to take on such a big challenge, I don’t necessarily jump up and down with eagerness and excitement. My life is very full. I work 50-55 hours a week meeting licensing deadlines, filling orders, and growing my businesses…yes, I said businesses, plural. I also spend as much time as possible with my family….we pride ourselves on cooking daily meals and sitting down to eat dinner together. Sunday is the only day I have off and yet, even then, after mass I work a few hours with the youth as I am a team leader for the middle school youth group. However, even though my life is full to the brim, I believe we all need to make time to “give back” to God the gifts He has so generously given to us.

This quote sums it up for me, “Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.” – Leo Buscaglia