USING THE GIFTS WITHIN Many claim everyone has some sort gift, yet few use their gift to the fullest capacity, and less still know they have a gift. Well, how do I know I have a gift? Why is it I seem to have two left shoes on, and can’t seem to master anything? How do I access my gift? These questions have baffled the masses for years. When we look at the history of mankind, we actually find only a minute portion of them did something with their gift. Discovering the truth of your God gave talents is the first step towards accessing your gift. Knowing that God gave you a specific gift that no one else can perform, points you in the right direction. You have been chosen to be on earth today, in a certain place for a specific reason. Understanding Gen. 1:26-28 we discover that God created us to be images of Himself, which means humans receiv-ed our gifts from our Creator that’s why we are said to be creative when we do something from inspiration. It is a simple process to be creative based on the creativity built within us. He simply built into mankind a part of His creativity, that way man’s creative ability is limitless. Since God created us in His image, we also have an imagination from God, but the reason most people cannot access their creativity or use their God given imagination is they have been taught everything from an educational system which excludes creativity. That’s why highly educated people are unlikely to be as creative as the lesser educated. This is no rule and many educated people have contributed to the well being of humanity, so I am not saying that you must be uneducated to be crea-tive. But the more you have to think on; the harder it is for creativity to flow. Simply put creativity flows from the very es-sence of a clean heart which hears the voice of love within, calling us to serve others. This is why the Master said to love God first then your neighbor as your-self, and everything else would be added to your life. The flow of creativity is interrupted often by minute problems that occupy and dominate our thinking. Trails common to mankind keeps us anxious, nervous, and blocked from the eternal flow of creativity. We worry ourselves into early graves over situations we cannot control, and learn to fear from an early age only to have it rob us of victory after victory through-out life. Pride began to dominate our lives soon after we notice others looking at us. Negative thoughts, pride, and fears block the flow of creativity. Creativity and love flow from the heart of mankind, problems and fears flow from the mind. Now if you have your mind dominated with problems and fears there is no way creativity can flow continually. It would be the same as knocking down a concrete wall with a simple water hose. I grant you it could be done, but it will probably take a lifetime. It would be much easier to take the wall down with a lazier, for all the energy of a lazier flows evenly in a specific direction. The Master said, as a man thinks so is he. Whatever dominates your mind will determine your actions. So the easiest way to get creative is to fall in love with the Creator. Once we began to enjoy conversation with our Creator, we will be open to the flow of creativity. Now I do not claim to be a professor in the art of creativity, but I am qualified to tell you how my creativity was activated. For many years I wondered what my gift was, and attended college to try to get a sense of direction about my future. Two years of college turned into three, and I was still lost about my career. I worked any job that was available, and learned much skill, but nothing I did fulfilled me for I was not doing anything creative, just surviv-ing. Then I got in a situation where I had no means of supporting myself in a foreign country. Well, I had to marry a citizen of my host country or leave. I decided to marry; it was better than returning home. After marrying I was thrown into a flower shop, which I hated, but this was the condition for getting married. Working daily with the flowers and hearing people comment on my arrangements and calling me an artist began to wear down the hate I had for mankind and flowers. The colors, smell, bees humming, and comments began affecting a change in me. My floral arrangements got bigger and better, and so did the comments. After a couple of years I enjoyed being a florist and developed a certain pride in making people happy. About this time I met a woman who began telling me I was loved by God, and He wanted mankind to love one another, then a strange thing happened one day when I gave a child a little bouquet of broken flowers, the child’s face lit up as he turned to show his mother his prized bouquet what I had given him. I shall never forget how I made three people happy that day. The mother was so happy I gave her child flowers that she began to cry. That day I realized how easy it was to make people happy, so for the next fifteen years I spent my life selling and giving free flowers to every child that came in my store, and often I gave adults a free flower also Being around such beauty, and the comments of the people started my looking deeper and experience more with my creativity, or maybe it was the calling of my inner voice saying, `step out of your way, and allow me to lead, ´or maybe it was a combination of the two, but what-ever it was, lead me from a florist to a tv star, and an opportunity to sing before fiftyone thousand people within weeks after my first public appearance. When I was on tv, I remember talking to others who could not believe I had gained national popularity in such a short time. Most people in the entertainment business need years to gain such popularity, but I got such a burn-ing within to make others happy that I couldn’t wait to share my gifts. Lastly, I believe it was a genuine desire to help others that led to my quick success. In Gen.1:28 it says God blessed mankind with abundant resources so that mankind would help each other as a service unto God. All the resources we need to help others were given at creation, so mankind has no excuse for allowing the gifts of God to lie dormant. Remember when God created you, you received creative ability. Now get quiet, jump out of your way, and allow the Spirit to reveal to you how to access your creativity.