We recently had visitors from California stop by, one of whom is a talented seamstress. She can whip up garments from scratch and is very comfortable tackling all sorts of projects and alterations on existing clothes, too.
While they were visiting, she asked if we had any clothes that needed attention. Well, I did have a pair of pants with a hole-ridden pocket, along with a couple of shirts that needed sleeve shortening. She whipped through them in no time, and just like that, my clothes served me better. I thought, "What a talent!" I tried to think of a good way to repay her, but she would have none of it—she was just doing what she likes to do!
The next day, she said that she was experiencing a lot of frustration installing some Adobe software on her laptop. She asked tentatively if I could take a look at it. I quickly found what was causing the problem and went through the installation myself, and it successfully completed on the first go. She was somewhat in awe of the ease with which I was able to do this, and I admit that it is somewhat amazing.
What I learned from this exchange was that swapping talents with someone is an easy way to add value for both people, and to generate goodwill. It is surprising how bartering our services made me appreciate her talents much more, and made her appreciate mine as well.
Look out for opportunities to serve others in a way that is easy for you, but could be hard for them. You might find something there you weren't expecting.
I totally agree. It was so much fun sharing my talents with you, and in exchange you sharing your talents with me and my computer that was on its way to being thrown against the wall. The computer would like to thank you for your generosity as well, it likes being in one piece. Isn't it wonderful that God gave us all different talents that we can share with others. And it is also very stress relieving to have good friends that will help you with something that would take yourself hours to do.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your help,
Lauralynn