"What are you saying?  I was chosen because I was a writer?"
"No," said he, "you weren't chosen because you were a writer.  You were a writer because you were chosen." p. 244

I just finished reading The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn, from whence came the above quote.  Of all the thought-provoking ideas presented in the book - and there are many - this one spoke to me personally.  Perhaps I was moved because I am a writer.  Perhaps it goes deeper than that.

It caused me to look back over my life as a writer at those things I have done that are, to me, most important:  My books.  My journals.  My testimony essays to my family.  My mission.  This blog.  I also looked back at those things that led to my writing, from the first time I picked up a pencil to scrawl a simple two-line poem:  My talent (inherited from ancestors better than I).  My opportunities for education.  Many life experiences, which gave me some depth and, as a result, gave me things about which I could write.  Do I write because I had that combination of factors or was I given those talents, training, and experiences so that I do write?  I believe it is the latter.

If I understand that my abilities and opportunities to write are a calling and a stewardship, then I approach my writing as more than light extemporanea.  I don't always know my readers and I don't know what any one of them might need to hear.  But I trust that God knows each of them intimately, and when I feel impressed to approach a particular topic in my writing, I follow that impression.  I seek for intimacy and immediacy, as if writing to my best friend.  I usually never know who - if anyone - reads what I write nor if it makes a difference.  But as I complete a work, I feel a sense of peace.  I write for the invigoration of the impression and I write for the peace.

Each of us has been given gifts and talents  ". . . for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.  To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby." (D & C 46:11-12) "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:4) 

Each gift is a stewardship.  Take stock of your gifts in light of your current situation.  Are your callings because of your gifts or were you given your gifts so that you could fulfill your calling?  Are you avoiding a calling (formal or otherwise) because you doubt your gifts?  As I said earlier: thought-provoking.