Do you know that you are chosen?

You are chosen by God for a specific purpose for this moment in time.

As Mordecai conveyed to Queen Esther, I say to you, who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14 NIV)

Royal position? Yes. You are a child of the King, and He has gifted you for this moment, for His purpose.

Whether you are gifted with wisdom, knowledge, faith, or another of the many gifts mentioned in Scripture, your gift—bestowed and empowered by the Spirit—is given for the common good, to be used here, now (1 Cor 12:7­–8). And if you’re reading this post, one way you’re meant to use your gift might be through the words you write for others.

In addition to the gifts of the Spirit, God also gives us talents. If God has gifted you with  a talent for writing, you are responsible to use that talent well. As Jesus taught, when you are faithful with the Master’s gift, He is pleased and offers more. When you neglect a gift, when you bury the gift, it may be taken from you (Matthew 25: 14–30).

Are you using your gifts well?

Or are you burying your gifts?

These are questions I ask you to prayerfully ponder, now and in the days to come.

These are questions I have prayerfully pondered and continue to ponder.

Here is what I’ve discovered so far: If I am chosen for such a time as this, if I am gifted for such a time as this, then I need to be present in this time, this moment, moment by moment. Yet more often than I care to admit, rather than practicing presence, I am off somewhere digging a hole.

I am burying my gifts.

In our digital age, it is easier than not for each of us to bury our gifts. Notifications vie for our attention, distracting us from the practice of presence—news flashes, financial reports, social media alerts, texts, messages, calls, reminders from our Bible and meditation apps, our calendar apps. Our moment by moment is busy, noisy, demanding.

Our minds are encumbered. Engulfed. Overwhelmed. Overstimulated.

Practicing presence has become more difficult than ever.

But if the Spirit of God empowers our gifts, then our presence, our availability to Him, is vital. As one of the characters in my novel Home says, “You have to be present to experience God. Although He is beyond time—is past, present, and future—we, as humans bound by time, experience Him in the here and now.”

It is for the here and now, for such a time as this, that He has chosen and gifted each of us.

It is in the here and now, in this moment, that he waits for us to throw our shovels aside.

He waits for us to turn our attention to Him.

To listen for Him, to Him.

He waits to empower us to use the gifts He’s given.

So that we may use our gifts well.

So that we may write the words He gives to us.