The focus for the 14th week (April 3 – April 9) of the 52 Weeks of Gratitude Challenge was:
A Talent You Have
The topic of talents is something I have not been able to address well in my life, because I don’t know if I have any. In fact, I don’t think I have anything I can specify as a talent! Even so, there are certain things that I can do, but I do not call them talents. I actually don’t know what the word means, so let me look it up right now…
So, from this definition, a talent is a skill that comes naturally to me. So that’s like a skill that I don’t need much time to learn or practice, I assume. Now that’s out of the way… let’s talk about one talent that I have.
Near-Accurate Predictions
As much as I would like to talk about my ability to wake up at almost anytime I wish, that’s not for today. Today, I think I should write about my ability to make good, near-accurate predictions.
I do keep mental records of the times I play guessing games with people. I often come up with games like… let’s see who can guess how many minutes it will take me to drive to our destination. Or, at the end of shopping, who can guess the total bill. You get the idea?
Time and time again, more than 9 out of 10 times, I get the closest predictions! Somehow I am able to put things into consideration and then make good predictions.
I remember one time a friend was waiting for me at home, and I was on my way from the market. He called me on the phone, and I told him that I’d be home in so and so minutes’ time. I did not have to run or hurry to meet him, but I got home just 1 minute short of my estimated time of arrival.
Recently
Recently, I was driving with a friend and we were going to meet someone in town. While on the way, I called him and told him that I would be there in 3 minutes’ time. My friend who was sitting next to me said “how can you make it there in 3 minutes? You just lied!” And I said to her, “let us see how long it will take us to get there.”
At exactly 3 minutes, I was just at the traffic light at the junction of my destination! 1 minute later, I was on the street, and parking. If I missed my prediction, it was off by 1 minute or at most 2 minutes, because I forgot about the traffic light.
Often
It is often like this: if at all I miss the prediction, I won’t be far off by so much. If in minutes, I’m usually within a difference of +/- 2 to 3 minutes, sometimes 5 minutes off. In figures, the same thing… not by a lot.
I am not sure how it happens, but once you list the conditions, I can predict. Like when driving, I have to know if there might be traffic, or which routes we will follow. Or are there other major conditions that could affect my prediction? Once I have this information, I can make a good prediction.
Not Just Numbers
This doesn’t only work for numbers though. Sometimes, I can predict other things. For instance, in our family, we rotate the family devotion leadership. Each week, a person leads the devotion on order of age, from the my father to the last child.
Now, the person leading gets to determine who says the closing prayers. It could be them, or someone else. Months after returning to Nigeria last year, I realized something interesting. More often than not, I could predict who gets to say the closing prayers!
There were usually 4 or 5 people during most devotions, so that means I had a 20% to 25% possibility at a right guess. Yet, I could predict the person more than 50% of the time! I mean, this has to count at something, right?
So there you have it… one “good” talent that I have.
Now it’s your turn… what is one talent that you have?
Please share in the comments section below.
7 things I was grateful for during the 14th week of this 52 weeks of gratitude challenge:
- I’m thankful we were able to shop at Sarojini market
- I’m glad we were able to get to the I.N.A. market today to do dinner shopping
- We successfully registered with the foreign office today, thank God
- Thank God for Rockland Hospital, and similar establishments, for the work and services they render to the world
- Thank God my GTB ATM card worked in India!
- I’m grateful to God that I met Eunice here. She has taken me around places, making our stay here much easier. Good bless her!
- I’m grateful that I was able to find a place nearby to do some shopping
View last week’s post: www.kheme.tk/2016/04/the-devil-woman-ive-always-talked-about/