Music, Talents, Wyote, Today, Futurity, Svithes

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I have joined the church choir. This is not a particularly interesting fact to anyone other than my parents to whom it should give great joy. For all my failings, the one thing my parents always believed I could do and do well is sing. And so when I very purposefully left that particular skill behind it was heartbreaking to them. But I haven't sung now for many years and am only finally ready to come back.

The consequence of so long an absence is, of course, a serious erosion in talent. Which I expected and even wanted but is still frustrating. I am used to being the one the director can count on to sight read, learn the notes on the first pass, stick to the proper notes when everyone else is screwing up, etc. Not so anymore.

A fair question is why did I purposefully lose these skills. But I'm afraid I haven't a very satisfactory answer. My honest reaction is to blame the party of the first part (meaning of the preTheric contract), but that's not really fair (though it may be correct). Blame also relies on my sickandtiredness re: getting roped in to sing.

In other words, I was lazy, felt misappreciated, and simply wasn't that into it.

But I still love music and so, all these years later, I am back.

This seems apropos because today my brother Wyote, who recently returned from a mission, spoke today to his congregation about this and that and frankly I don't quite know what but I'm sure it was good.

He and I were chatting earlier this week about the craft of writing. Like me, Wyote is a writer, and it is my goal to get him to success much more quickly than myself. In our chat he told me that he has "started work on [his] first post-mission writing . . . [and he's] kinda rusty."

I understand. I too left writing behind during my mission, looking at it as one more thing laid on the altar. Then I came home and had to relearn everything I had once known.

Where I'm headed is this (and here comes the svithey part): There is a difference between letting talents decay for selfish reasons and allowing them to decay while doing something of greater importance--an importance not centered on the self. In both instances skills do decay. But I have no grand expectations of ever being a singer again--that is nothing I deserve. And the road back will be long and rocky--if I ever even make it.

But that example means nothing to Wyote's writing. God gives us talents and expects us to make the most of them. But he is not so capricious as to punish us for sacrificing to him. Forget about it!

God did not make us to fail. When Elder Russell M. Nelson visited our stake recently, he said that each of us was created to be successful during mortality. Implication: we are given everything we need and can expect to be given everything we will need.

So long, I suspect, as we don't squander what we already have.

Let that be a lesson to me.


this svithe on thmusings
last week's svithe