Do you have a Gift of the Spirit? Have you nurtured it, practiced it, used it for good? Many gifts of the spirit are listed in the scriptures, but I would guess there are more to be considered.
I will begin the list, but I would like to see us all add to this list. I believe anything positive would be acceptable:
Gift to listen
Gift to love the unlovable
Gift to uplift those around you
Gift to not judge
Gift to create a comfortable atmosphere
Gift to hear and understand
Gift to bring peace
Gift to bring comfort to others
Gift to cheer up the sad
Gift to say just the right thing
Gift to mend hearts
We may have experienced any of these gifts once or twice as needed. We may have experienced someone else’s gift upon us. We may desire these gifts, or relish them when they come. How many can we perfect? How many can we call upon when needed? How many are ours for the asking? All of them.
The gift of humor
The gift of patience
The gift of determination and fortitude
The gift of clarity
The gift of optimism
I have a question for you. I know that we can ask for these gifts and receive them, but do you think we have to do work to cultivate them? I recall that Oliver Cowdery, when he wanted the gift of translation, was chastised because he took no thought but to ask for it. It seems then that we must cultivate these gifts both by study and by faith. So, my question for you is, how would you study to more greatly cultivate something like the gift of humor?
Weellll…let me see…
I think we can take ourselves too seriously and by the same token, we can be too goofy and sacrilegious. I believe our Father has a perfect sense of humor that falls between these two, which is where I hope to be. Judging it is the tricky part, because often my mouth works faster than my brain. Practice will help a lot, but for those of us with a serious problem, maybe we have to put it in the hands of the Lord that he will rescue us because we really do mean well. Thank goodness for repentence and those ever important words of “I’m sorry”. But seriously, Father knows my heart and usually my heart just wants to make someone happy, not be a smarty pants.
Great additions!
I had an experience you can read about here (https://scripturenotes.com/seeking-gifts-of-the-spirit) which gave me this insight. Pray for the gift, then pay attention to the promptings you get to be trained in the gift, and then the atonement changes our nature and attunes us to the proper use of the gift.
By the way Jan, I would love to have you do a review of my Scripture Notes app. Feel free to contact me. I can’t see how to contact you on the site.