The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit—The Gateway to Personal Success

For those of us who are Catholic, part of our faith includes a belief in and reliance on the Holy Spirit. However, this article is not intended as a lesson on Catholicism. But I thought, as I reflected on them in my daily readings, that there is a great fit for us to utilize as we grow our personal potential.

The gift of piety: We associate piety with the words goodness and faithfulness. How fitting such characteristics would be for us to adopt. Who doesn’t admire individuals who are good and faithful to family and friends? Piety builds love within us that allows us to love others. So incorporate and demonstrate goodness/faithfulness as part of your daily habits. Doing so allows us to be mentors to those who are watching us perform our life.

The gift of knowledge: This gift allows one to disce
thoughts, words, deeds, and things that direct our actions. Knowledge is gained as one observes the world around us. Knowledge is gained as one engages in continual learning and becomes a perpetual student of life. Become a sponge and absorb all the knowledge you can. Just remember however that knowledge alone does nothing. It’s the application of knowledge that is the key to personal growth and personal success.

The gift of fortitude: This gift builds strength, courage, resilience, and staying power. This may well be one of the most important gifts you can grow within your character. It teaches one to keep going when most others would give up and to utilize patience within every process. Life demands we overcome many obstacles to reach our pinnacle of achievements. Without fortitude, we just might give up one step from the door of opportunity. And, how sad is that thought?

The gift of counsel: This gift allows us to understand what actions we must take as we face the circumstances of life. It exposes our weaknesses and encourages us to be able to overcome them. A most important role we can play is to offer counsel to those that work for us. We just need to remember that we can only teach to our level of knowledge. That means we must continually seek knowledge so we can impart it to others.

The gift of understanding: Part of knowledge building requires that we possess understanding. This gift allows us to have insights into truths often hidden from others. This gift helps produce a focus for our life. As leaders our task is to constantly seek to build understanding about our world. Understanding allows us to be sympathetic, thoughtful, kind, accepting, indulgent, perceptive, and appreciative—not bad character traits.

The gift of wisdom: When one achieves wisdom, we grasp the vision of how the world works. Our ability to assess what is allows us to perfectly react to circumstances. It’s the ultimate position in life—to be considered wise. Like understanding, gaining wisdom is also time related. We usually associate wisdom with old age but that is not necessarily the universal truth. By being a student of life, observing and absorbing the lessons life teaches, we can rapidly gain wisdom. At this stage, we understand reality. Cultivate this within yourself so your perception of life is not a false one that could lead to engaging in the wrong kinds of activities.

The gift of God’s love: When we understand that this love can and does remove fear from our life, we thus can prod forward without trepidation. It’s this gift that allows piety, knowledge, fortitude, counsel, understanding, and wisdom to become part of life. This love brings peace into our life. And what better antidote can we have for overcoming fear than possessing peace. All love originates from God’s love. And what better gift to give to others—a combination of your love and God’s love.