A person’s gift will make room for them, and bring them before important people (Prov 18:16 my paraphrase).
I was listening to an interview that Kirk Whalum gave at Loyola University Forum. He talked about something that I have been thinking about a lot lately; this gift of musical talent that he and I and many others have received.
He talked about how we are responsible for cultivating it and be faithful to give the gift to people, without an expectation of something in return. He said that he got discovered because he was found doing “his thing.” He wasn’t doing many cover tunes during his nightclub days in Houston back in the 80’s. He and his band were doing original songs, and they were great. When I was still in high school, I and some of my friends would slip into the club to hear him play. It was never disappointing.
It has taken me over 9 years to detox my life of the destructive ways of thinking and being. I was not satisfied with life. I especially was not satisfied with music. By the time I got out of the Navy I was used to doing music for the wrong reasons. It was no longer because I enjoyed playing. It was something else. I had started to see it as a tool to get what I wanted. It isn’t.
Kirk Whalum spoke of being a musician in terms of being a servant to the people to whom you give it, your audience. You’re the one with the gift, and you are there to give it away, to share it. In a sense, you ARE the gift, because the Lord has put the music inside you.
The scripture above, to me, implies, that if you have developed and cultivated and mastered your particular gift, it will in some way take care of you. Your only “job” with the gift is simply to master it. The Lord will do the rest.
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