What do you do with the thoughts or abilities that make you, YOU? I’m speaking of those things that are meant to be expressed— they’re intended for someone to receive them. They are your gifts, yours to give as you determine.

Is there music inside you that others want to hear? Can you produce art that people hope to see, or teach what learners are seeking? Is there love within you that someone longs for? Do you have the words that others need to hear, or the gestures for a life to be encouraged?

Those intangible, unquantifiable gifts within you are powerful. They change lives. Expressed when the time is right, they are the rudder that alters another vessel’s course.

Express them when the time is wrong, and a shipwreck can result.

Maybe that has happened to you, a shipwreck when you expressed a precious pearl of who you are. So back into hiding that gift of yours went, the gift that was meant to be given.

Maybe it was the only thing you could do. After all, it wasn’t something insignificant that you put out there—it was a piece of YOU that was annihilated. You thought it was better to disown it than to recognize its existence. You considered it the cause of your wrecked ship, your deepest wounds. Banished to a tightly-sealed cell deep within, you found a way to function without it. Because you had to. You had to move on. Life was calling.

But … you were wrong about something.

It wasn’t the gift in you that caused the shipwreck, it was the timing of its expression. The conditions weren’t right before. Your gift wasn’t ready. It wasn’t yet strong enough to hold its form. Your gift was wrongly received and undervalued. You were plundered. You were strip-mined.

But know this … your gift wasn’t wrong. Your gift was always very, very right.

You’ll understand that, when the day comes again that your gift is required by someone, needed by someone, drawn out by someone. You’ll know then that your gift is of great value.

Your gift is powerful to the right person. It is the rudder to alter the course of their life.

When you allow your banished gift out of its cell and express it again, this time you’ll stay in the pocket—you’ll determine what you want to do with it, who you want to give it to, and who you need to hide it from. You’ll know who can be trusted, and who cannot.

You’ll take the risk to give again when a rightful recipient treasures and respects it. They will consider the cherished gift yours alone to give, and keep private what is meant to be private.

If you’re harboring a gift that is intended for public receipt, you’ll know when you’re ready to share it. When the time is right, you’ll have the strength, courage, and self-respect to withstand society’s pressures.

When the time is right, supporters will emerge from thin air to uphold your gift and help you stand firm in it.

When the time is right, you will be capable of staying in the pocket — maintaining management of your thoughts, your talents, your abilities, your heart. After all, these are YOUR gifts. You’ll know then that your gifts are of great worth, and always were.

When the time is right, let your gifts be the rudder to beneficially alter someone’s life course.