What if you overlooked your greatest gift because it didn’t seem important enough?

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Recently, I was having a conversation with a young man in his early twenties. We were talking about sports, elite athletes, and what separates the really good from the truly great. In the middle of that conversation, he said something that has stayed with me ever since.

He said, “What if every one of us is in the top one percent at one thing in this world, but we never discover what that one thing is? It could be something as simple as folding a chair, and we’d never know we were the most effective and efficient chair folder in the world.”

At first, it made me laugh. Folding a chair? But the more I thought about it, the more profound it became.

His point wasn’t really about chairs. It was about purpose.

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on my own life. I’ve been an artist. I’ve played football, basketball, and ran track. I’ve competed against athletes who were truly elite, guys who were in that top one to five percent. Many of them went on to accomplish some incredible things. Looking back, you could often recognize their greatness long before everyone else did. They possessed a rare combination of talent, work ethic, and confidence that set them apart.

The interesting thing is I wanted to be elite at many of the same things they were. I worked hard. I became good. I was a good basketball player. I was a good football player. I was a good track athlete. But I also knew the difference between being good and being elite. Those guys had another gear, and I respected that.

That realization led me to another question.

What if the thing you could become elite at isn’t the thing you’ve always wanted to be known for? What if God has already wired you to do something with excellence, but because it comes so naturally, you’ve never taken it seriously? What if your greatest gift is something you’ve overlooked because it didn’t seem important enough?

Let’s go back to the chair example. Maybe folding chairs comes so easy to you that you don’t think twice about it. You assume everyone else can do it just as well, so you never develop it or give it another thought.

Now, I’m not saying your calling is to fold chairs. But I do think the principle is worth considering.

Sometimes our calling hides behind our familiarity. We overlook what God has placed in our hands because we’re too busy chasing someone else’s assignment. We spend our lives trying to become elite at something we admire while neglecting the very gift God intended us to cultivate.

So instead of asking, “What do I want to be the best at?” maybe we should ask, “What has God already equipped me to do with excellence?”

Your purpose may not be hiding in the thing you’ve always dreamed about. It may be waiting in the ordinary thing you’ve overlooked for years.

So, I’ll leave you with the same question I’ve been asking myself: What is your chair?