"The shaping of man's mind begins before this mortal probation. He brings with him certain dispositions. He arrives, for example, with a heightened consciousness toward that which will comprise his earthly plan. This heightened awareness in specific areas acts as a steering mechanism. A child destined to play the violin will be drawn to everything about violins but may tend to avoid sports. The girl with intellectual gifts may be drawn to opportunities to use her mind at the expense of, say, homemaking skills. So the strengths and gifts he comes with will necessarily cause him to develop consciousness in those areas, but also predispose him to be weak in others. None of us gets the whole pie in this life, only a slice or two. Therefore, we can be philosophical about some of our weaknesses, and others', realizing that it just wasn't given to us to be strong in some areas, in order that we would focus on other particular skills during our earth life. Since we can't do everything, our lives are necessarily full of both accomplishment and neglect." M. Catherine Thomas - Light in the Wilderness
This description of our strengths and weaknesses is a hopeful insight. I don't think it is the whole story nor is it meant to be, but I love the viewpoint that sometimes our weaknesses are steering mechanisms. This implies premortal choices, inclinations and desires. Maybe if we quit wishing for the whole pie we can enjoy the delicacies of our own slice.
