Hello all!
This morning I was at mass and it was the parable of the talents. The man who was given 2 talents made 4, the guy who got 5 made 10 and the lazy lout who got one buried his and gave it back to the master!
The master wasn’t happy and reacted like Simon Cowel after a bad audition on Britain’s got talent!
One thing I always wondered was what if there was another man who was given 3 talents for example and what if despite working hard he lost it all!!
Now a ‘talent’ in the Bible is actually a quantity of money rather than a gift such as singing but the principle remains the same!
God may not have given you 3 talents (about 3 million pounds according to google) but he has given you many talents and gifts!
You may be gifted at cooking or reading or writing, you may be gifted in sport or art or math or you may be gifted in love and charity and patience (still waiting on the patience)….
You may be gifted in prayer and understanding, wisdom and intelligence and you may even have spiritual gifts of healing….
Whatever the case, each gift is a talent that God asks you to accept, nurture, grow and develop these talents while putting them to the service of others!
I always remember Glen’s testimony in India. He serves in the Divine retreat centre in the music ministry but he wasn’t always so pious!
Glen had long hair and was into some dark type of music! He met mother Theresa and his life changed!
‘You look like Jesus with that hair’ she said, ‘why not use your gifts to glorify God’!
The penny dropped and Glen dedicated his life and musical gifts to loving God and bringing healing to others through the healing ministry!
Sometimes we think that God doesn’t want us to use our gifts as that would cause us to get prideful but this isn’t true!
God wishes us to use every gift to glorify Him and to love others and it takes time and maturity to be able to do that!
When I was younger I had a dream of travelling the world, speaking lots of languages and being a business man of a type….
My dream came crashing down when I realised that I had no interest whatsoever in business despite being very gifted on paper!
I gave my life to God perhaps more out of obligation than anything else thinking that my future was destined to be dull and boring but at least I’d get to heaven after my earthly exile!
But Jesus had other plans!! He said:
“Michael, I want you to travel the world and learn lots of languages while doing business but I want you to do my business”!
The rest is history!
So today as you read this you may find yourself in one of three categories!
1. You have lots of talents and are very successful but you are serving yourself with them like I was before.
2. You have many talents but you have no confidence and so they are all blocked or buried as in today’s parable!
3. You have many talents and you are using them to love others and to praise God!
Obviously the third scenario is the ideal yet do not despair if you relate more to 1 or 2!
God is merciful and it is never too late to surrender our lives, our talents and our fears to Him so that He can transform our lives and teach us how to be fully alive while serving Him and our neighbour!
So today, think of Susan Boyle who didn’t bury her talents or give up and how even Simon Cowell was left speechless!
Never give up! Your day will come too!