“It’s a Gift!” ( Romans 12: 6-8 )

August 26, 2012
Rita Tushinghman from David Lean's classic, Doctor Zhivago

“It’s a gift” says Yevgraf Zhivago to his brother’s illegitimate daughter in the  motion picture, Doctor Zhivago

One of my  favorite movie lines of all time is “It’s a Gift”.

It’s the final line from Doctor Zhivago.

Yevgraf Zhivago  (Alec Guiness) has been looking for years for the  illegitimate  daughter of his brother, Yuri Zhivago, the brilliant poet and physician. Yevgraf  thinks he finally finds her working as a  common laborer at a soviet energy plant.

The girl” he interviews is plain-looking,and  ordinary,  played by Rita Tushingham — hardly a child of the radiant  Lara  (Julie Christie )or the handsome Yuri ( Omar Shariff).. But when she leaves with her boyfriend, Yevgraf sees  a zither on her back. His brilliant brother had also played the zither.

“Do you play?”

“Does she play?” replies her  boyfriend. “Oh how she plays!”

It is at that moment, as the girl and boyfriend walk away that Guiness realizes that the girl  indeed was the love child of Yuri Zhivago and Lara.

“Then,” Yefgraf cries out. “It’s a gift”.

The simple line is the culmination of a book and a film about scandal, love, loss and the continuation of the ineffable through the gifts we receive.

I have been thinking about  gifts  that each of us are given this week. I am thinking about the gifts that director Tony Scott had before his tragic death a week ago. He had the gift o a discerning artistic eye.

“We all have different gifts, according to the grace given us,” Says  Romans 12: 6 – 8. ” If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it serving, let him serve; if is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”

Gifts are clearly passed down through nature from parent to child but it is  orchestrated by God. Today, we who read this have the gift of life. We should all be grateful for that.

And we should be grateful for the gifts born into us. Our fate is tied into our gifts, whether we chose to use them or ignore, to bring glory to ourselves or to God, whether they are for ” noble or common purpose.”

Our gift is a compass on our journey.

It brings us ultimately to our destiny.

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2 responses to “It’s a Gift!” ( Romans 12: 6-8 )

  1. Thank you for this reminder, David. Bottom line for me is that we are dependent on God in our weakness and dependent on him, since God assigns them, in our gifts (strengths) as well. Any proper study of our gifts, like any study of our weaknesses, ought to result in our firm declaration of dependence. Unfortunately the opposite is usually the case. Your post here is a timely reminder.

    • Bruce – You hit the irony of this on the head: only through complete dependence in Him, do we become strong and finally, free. In my life, I have seen so many artists’ lives destroyed because they could not understand why they had remarkable talents and not the next guy… I so appreciate you reaching out to me on this. Best -David