What are They Among So Many?

This evening I went to a fireside with my sister and two of my children.  At the end there was a musician there who played the piano and who was simply incredible.  He played snippets of famous composers, improvising on their works, and it was unbelievable.  My sister said to me during the performance something to the effect of, “People like this make me wonder why I ever even practice the piano!”  She was of course implying that since we could never even come close to playing like him why even try?  I felt this all the more when I talked to someone afterwards who told me that this musician has perfect pitch and a photographic memory.  So why try when there are prodigies like this who will always be leaps and bounds ahead of us?  We may feel this way about many things in life as we see others who have such gifts and abilities that we feel like we will never amount to anything.  Most of us are like the “lad” who had “five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” (John 6:9)  We may feel like the child that we have so little we can give while there are some who have “so many” gifts to offer. 

               Ultimately we are all, even the most gifted, like this little boy when compared with the Savior Himself.  We are all as little children when compared to Him, but Christ doesn’t care how much we can bring—He only wants us to bring and offer it all.  No single person in that multitude could have fed the 5000 that day; and only Christ can turn our meager offerings into something really powerful.  Our goal in life need not be to acquire fame or greatness or notoriety because of our gifts; rather our quest should be to fully turn our small gifts over to the Savior so He can really make something of them.  To do that I believe the key is to learn for ourselves exactly what it is that the Lord wants us to do with whatever gifts we have.  True satisfaction doesn’t come from being the best at something; it comes in knowing that we are using the talents God gave us in the best way possible.  When the Savior came to His apostles at the Sea of Galilee after the resureection, He called out to them with these words: “Children, have ye any meat?” (John 21:5)  They were “children” just like that boy with the barley loaves in the sense that on their own they could accomplish very little.  They had toiled all night try to catch fish and had failed to bring in anything; but when they followed the instructions of the Lord, they couldn’t even contain all the fish they caught.  Their abilities didn’t increase when they hearkened to Jesus, but their results did because of Him.  We don’t know why some have been given seemingly so many talents, but we do know that “to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 46:11).  We need not be discouraged when our gifts don’t seem to measure up compared to others, for our our missin in life should be to use those gifts we have been given to serve in the way He desires us to serve.  It is always “God that giveth the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:7).