“When one really becomes practical about spiritual gifts, they spell out responsibility and sacrifice. The identifying of gifts brings to the fore… the issue of commitment.

Somehow if I name my gift and it is confirmed, I cannot ‘hang loose’ in the same way. I would much rather be committed to God in the abstract than be committed to Him at the point of my gifts… Commitment at the point of my gifts means that I must give up being a straddler. Somewhere in the depths of me I know this.

Life will not be the smorgasbord I have made it, sampling and tasting here and there. My commitment will give me an identity.”

– Elizabeth O’Conner, Eight Days of Creation, pp.42,43