I had the opportunity to hear Jo Saxton speak a few weeks ago. About a week after I faced why I hadn’t been writing lately.

“That way you have with words, that way you have with numbers, that way you have with hospitality, that way you have with raising your kids, that way you have as a CEO, that’s not an accident.”

I sat with that. I tried to let that truth wash over me.

Our gifts are not accidents. They are on purpose. They have purpose.

Think about it. What are you good at? Where do you thrive? Where do you find your flow?

Whatever that is for you. It’s not an accident. It’s on purpose. It has purpose.

Sit with that. Let it sink in. Read it again and again until it does.

Maybe, like me, you have trouble believing that. Maybe that comes from inside you. Maybe you’ve been told that by someone in your life. Maybe society tells you that.

So what happens when we believe whatever voice tells us our gifts are by accident? Or rather, what doesn’t happen?

What books aren’t being written?

What plays are not being performed?

What organizations are not being started?

What churches are not being planted?

What inventions never materialize?

What theories are left undiscovered?

What relationships are not pursued?

What dreams are deferred?

What if we stopped apologizing for our gifts? What if we stopped minimizing them? Stopped thinking they’re not a big deal and not all that special?

What if, instead, we celebrated them? What if we made a big deal of them? What if we realized our gifts don’t take away from anyone else’s gifts, and that others’ gifts don’t take away from ours? What if we truly believed our gifts were special and meant to be shared with the world?

Really. What would happen?