Life is not fair. You only have to read the news, or just walk out your door, to learn that life simply isn’t fair.  Innocent children are born into all kinds of circumstances, some good, some not so good, and some that are shockingly bad.  Some adolescents sail smoothly through their teen years, while others face bullying or loneliness.  Then as adults, unfair things can happen to us, whether they be job losses, illnesses or the premature death of loved ones.

However, life’s unfairness doesn’t give us the right to give up. You have to play the hand that you’re dealt.  And if you play it well, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.  Consider two of our presidents: Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.  Both grew up with single, hard-working mothers.  Neither had the ideal “Leave It To Beaver” two-parent style upbringing.  Yet, that didn’t stop them.  And whether you agree with their politics or not, it is undeniable that they didn’t allow their childhood circumstances to limit them.

What I’ve learned is that if you simply use what God has given you, no matter how meagre, He will take your efforts and multiply them exponentially. For example, anything that I’ve accomplished in my life has started with God giving me a tiny talent.  I then used that talent and worked hard.  And God took my tiny talent and my hard work and did something wonderful with it.  That is how I got into law school.  I had some brains, I added to that a ton of work, and then God ran with it.

The converse also holds true. For instance, God gave me some musical ability.  However, after I finished my education and started my career, I stopped working at music.  As a result, I haven’t accomplished as much as I should have in music.  I’ve wasted the talent that God gave me.  I haven’t done my part with hard work, and so He hasn’t been able to propel me forward.

Life’s unfairness does not hold us back. We hold ourselves back.  God gives everyone a seed of talent.  Some people get bigger seeds, and some people get smaller ones.  It really doesn’t matter what size of seed you’ve been given.  It only matters what you do with it.  I can have a great, big seed of talent, but if I am lazy and unmotivated, that seed will dry up on the ground.  By contrast, if I water my tiny seed and tend to it, God can make that little seed blossom into something incredible.  The choice is mine.  It is a waste of time to whine about how my seed is so “tiny.”  My only job is to work with the seed that I’ve been given.

The key to life is playing the hand you are dealt, and not being distracted by whatever cards are in someone else’s hand. This week consider what hand you have been dealt. What are you doing with the talents and opportunities that God has given you?  Are you making the most of them?  God has given all of us something to work with.  Don’t worry if others have been given more than you.  That is OK.  Just take what you’ve been given, work hard with it, and then let God turn your talents and hard work into something AMAZING.

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