I was at the gym a little while ago, peddling away at a pretty good clip on my recumbent bike, listening to music that helps me keep pace, doing my best to ignore the TVs with their constant stream of news. I’m not against news, mind you. I just haven’t been able to take the TV version for many years now. But, I digress.

I’ve grown somewhat used to finding my mind wandering while the body does its thing and today was no exception.

Have you ever found yourself in a place that seems tailormade for you? Where you don’t have to make an effort to get something done? Instead, you seem like you’re merely along for the ride?

Well, I do on occasion and the last four or five days have been like that.

I’m talking about my writing and the thoughts behind it.

The oddest thing: I think I started back to write maybe five days ago, including today. I’ve posted one piece each day since then, although I’ve written about twelve. Just this morning, I wrote three before this one and have others chomping at the bit. This, after quite a lengthy period of relative silence.

In fact (and I’m really not embellishing here), I can’t keep up with where this is coming from and I’m a really fast typist. It’s a little like stepping into a kayak, pushing away from the bank because the water beckons and, before you know it, you’re miles down the river in a current with no signs of letting up. In fact, I’m having to apply the brakes just to keep some balance.

I have no idea of how many or few people actually read this stuff but I don’t really think all that much about it. The ideas and words just form themselves virtually without consciously thinking and the fingers dance across the keyboard accordingly.

I do not mention this as any kind of boast. Really.

Instead, as I was peddling away, I was reflecting on this zone I’m currently in as an expression of a spiritual gift.

Interestingly, I touched upon this concept in an hour-long talk I gave a week ago Sunday at a local church. It wasn’t the primary subject but it did fit in, tangentially. So, I guess it’s been on my mind and, perhaps, the preparation for that talk helped prime the pump.

I know I’ve written about spiritual gifts before but, since it leapt back into my mind this afternoon (while taking a break from my writing, of all things! Cut me some slack, God!), I thought I’d share a few pertinent thoughts.

Without going into theology in any detail, spiritual gifts are like special skills that we’re granted by God, once we surrender to him. The apostle Paul, giant as he is of the New Testament, names a number of them, as does his compatriot, the apostle Peter, the rock upon which Jesus said he’d build his church.

So, what are these special skills that are actually “gifts” from God, issued for the purpose of partnering with him?

Well, we can start by viewing them in a context that is not spiritual. In that sense, they’d be things that others would recognize we are very good at. Perhaps people have told you that you are very good at fixing things, at being mechanically inclined. Perhaps people say that you are a very good musician or a quite good at your job in sales or marketing or finance. Maybe that you’re a skilled doctor or nurse or athlete or entertainer.

“Spiritual” gifts are like skills that are supernaturally charged and they affect the lives of others in a way that honors God and his plan for us. This is an important equation of sorts. Yes, they are skills … things we are shown to be quite good at. But, that’s not all. They have to have an effect on others in a way that is deeply meaningful. And, not just meaningful but profoundly so. The expression of the gift can point to something either deeply within someone or it can help set their eyes and heart on something deeply beyond that someone.

Here’s another way to determine if one of our skill sets fits the definition. When we are in that space of expressing a given gift by our actions, we have almost no sense of it. It certainly doesn’t seem like effort, although others observing it might describe it as a kind of work. It just seems so natural, like a most common thing such as breathing.

But, remember, in order to fulfill the true definition, it has to be something that advances God’s plan for us, collectively and individually. And, that raises all sorts of questions.

I believe there are such things as spiritual gifts and I believe I’m the beneficiary of some of them. Not a ton, mind you, but at least several. One of Peter’s admonitions is that it is incumbent upon us to employ those gifts. Get them out from underneath the bushel. Let the light shine.

One of my regular prayers is that God use me for his purposes. Let me act as his eyes, his heart, his hands and feet. I fall miserably short most of the time but I don’t think he minds as long as I keep asking and getting up after falling down. I’m grateful for the times when I recognize his handiwork in my actions, as simple as they may be. As simple as sitting down at a laptop and trying to offer even the crudest picture of who he is and why we should care.

Do you know yours?

Thank you, Jesus.