Share What You Can and More Will Follow
In April 2020, I rekindled my relationship with (western) flute. I hadn’t played in decades, so I didn’t want to put a lot of money into a flute at first. I bought a very cheap flute at a pawn shop which, to my amazement, was actually in working condition! The flute was so cheap that the pawn shop couldn’t find info on it, so his tag said "NONAME.” This became my affectionate name for my new friend. ;)
Fast forward a few years and I was happily playing a much nicer flute (with the much more attractive name of Gabriel) that I’d bought myself for Christmas in 2022. At the time I couldn’t afford private lessons so I watched videos, read books, and observed better players than myself. I admittedly didn’t have a lot of experience under my belt when in 2023 I sold NONAME.
The woman who answered my Craigslist ad arrived to check it out and told me that she, too, was rekindling a long lost friendship with western flute. I was delighted that my flute was going to be used a second time to help rekindle the joy of western flute.
After the woman left with NONAME, my heart was full of joy, but I also wanted to somehow help this new owner on her flute adventure. Suddenly, I realized that I could share what I knew, little though it was. I gathered up the links to the videos and websites that I’d been using and emailed them to her with a hearty “Good luck! :) “
Though I didn’t hear from her again except to thank me enthusiastically for the resources, I still think about her sometimes and hope that she was able to rekindle her relationship with flute and find joy with NONAME, just as I once had.
But that wasn’t the end of the story! Perhaps in return for sharing what I could, God gifted me the acquaintance of dozens of amazing flutists in the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble who now routinely help me with my own flute journey. When I realized this, I wondered if this is what the Bible’s Parable of the Talents was trying to teach us?
For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. - Matthew 25:29
In this parable, a man who had a single talent hid it and when his master discovered this, he gave it to another man who already had ten talents. This parable seemed relevant in my case. Perhaps God1 rewards us when we share what we can, no matter how small. I didn’t expect God to bring the numerous resources that He did and perhaps He would have granted them to me, regardless, but what a pleasant “coincidence” that after I shared my limited knowledge with the woman who purchased my flute that I was blessed with many more — and better — resources.
My experience with using my talent was a positive one, but if your experiences have been less positive, you might consider whether you’ve failed to share the talents that God has already gifted to you. The other side of this parable’s coin2 is that if we don’t share what God has graciously gifted to us, even what we once had may be taken from us.
What can you share with others, no matter how insignificant it may seem? Begin sharing your talents now and then start noticing how God gives you even more. To have abundance, we must first give from our existing abundance.
If you have difficulty with my use of the word “God” here, feel free to substitute whatever word makes sense to you. I sometimes use “the Universe” or “Higher Power” but I don’t think the word you choose matters. What matters is that you have a concept of a Higher Power who supports you in your journey of life.
OK, pun intended here. ;) For those who may not get the joke, a “talent” as it is referred to in this Bible story was a type of currency and it is often referred to as a single coin, albeit one with great value.