Whatever you want your children to become, you should honestly strive to become as well (Reggie Joiner - Parenting Beyond Your Capacity)
In the biblical understanding of giftedness, gifts are never really ours for ourselves. We have nothing that was given to us. Our gifts are ultimately God's, and we are only "stewards" - responsible for the prudent management of property that is not our own. This is why gifts are always "ours for others," whether in the community of Christ or the broader society outside, especially the neighbour in need - Os Guinness (The Call).
Self-Control - "We cannot help it if birds fly over our heads. It is another thing to invite them to build nests in our hair" - Luther. Self-control is keeping the birds out of our hair.
A little girl and her mother were talking as they walked out of church. The mother asked her daughter how she liked church that day. The girl replied that she thought it was good, but she was a little confused. She said, "The pastor said that God was bigger than we are. Is that true?" Her mother responded that it was true. "He also said that God lives inside us. Is that true, mommy?" "Yes." "Well then," said the girl, "if God is bigger than we are, and if he lives inside us, then shouldn't some of him show through?"
Christians are like manure: spread them out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horribly.
The porcupine is not generally regarded as a lovable animal... I don't know any child who has one for a pet... Porcupines don't always want to be alone... The porcupine's dilemma: How do you get close without getting hurt? This is our dilemma too. Everyone of us carries our own little arsenal. Our barbs have names like rejection, condemnation, resentment, arrogance, selfishness, envy, contempt... Yet we, too, want to get close. (John Ortberg)