BLESSED IS HE WHO KNOWS WHAT HE IS BLESSED WITH





Pic.: Chetna Shetty

“Blessed is he who knows what he is blessed with!”

I wish to limit this Post only to one of those blessings: our talents.

When young-ones come to me complaining about their low self-confidence or low marks in exams, I send them back only with one advice: “Discover what you are good at… your talent; place your total trust in it and follow your heart… Confidence will automatically shoot up… Motivation will come on its own… Marks will just roll as the by-product of your work.”

Many understand what I try to advise them, and many don’t. So, invariably, I tell them, this: “Blessed is he who knows what he is blessed with!”

Success, to me, is the process of self-discovery. I am dead sure that there isn’t a single soul on this earth who has been sent here by God without being packed with a talent or two. Everyone, from a street urchin to a billionaire’s son, from an American to an Algerian, yes, every soul on this earth is blessed with some gift, some talent…  It is only that some of us recognize our gifts and encash them… and some of us just don’t.

I tell my young-students to find out, early in life, what gift he is blessed with… “He who does it”, I say, “is a blessed one!”

I, also, ask everyone around me, this: “Is God so self-obsessed that He wants us to constantly keep praising Him, keep singing His glory?” We do so in our fear or ignorance. I tell this: “The best way to sing glory to God is by encashing the cheque He has gifted us with – our special talents.”

The endearing old-Christmas-song – ‘Little Drummer Boy’ – comes to my mind. In this song, the legend goes, that the three Kings – Magi – meet this little drummer-boy on their way to Bethlehem, and they ask him to join them. The little boy, conscious of the fact that he did not have any gold or silver to please baby Jesus, asks if he could please the baby with what he (the drummer boy) was gifted with – by playing on his drums… The legend goes, that Mary, the baby’s mother, said ‘Yes’…

Thus, the poor drummer-boy played on his drums… ‘Pa rum pum pum pum… Rum pum pum pum.’… And, the baby was delighted!

How simple is the way to please God… How nearer the way!


GERALD D’CUNHA

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