What have you been trusted with?

Writing a Blog always makes me reflect about what is important to me, important enough to write about and share with other people, so I was really glad when on our Notthingham Youth for Christ away day our boss, Richard said that the scripture for Youth for Christ this year was the "Parable of the talents" (Matthew Chapter 25 verses 14-28). This story really impacted me as a child, and challenged me once again when I read it with the team.

The story talks about a Master who gives 3 servants with a different number of talents, to one he gave 10, another 5 and another 1 before he went away. While he was gone the first two servants invest in their talents and are able to double their numbers. The Master is overjoyed, praises them and is able to share and entrust to them more of what he owns. The servant who had one talent didn't invest in his talent. In fact, he was scared of the way his Master ran his work/business so hid his talent in the ground until his Master came back to return it. As a result he was punished, his talent taken away and given to the one with 10 and he couldn't share in the Master's riches and was thrown into suffering.

This story reminded me that, in life, we are all different in our giftings and responsibilities, that God has made each person in a particular way. Our gifts, personalities, skills, styles, strengths, weaknesses, weird habits and relationships with people in our lives make us unique. It's not just what they are, or whether they seem a lot or a little that defines us, it's maybe even more what we do with them.

I used to focus on the last servant more than the other two who had used their talents. I used to feel sorry for him because he let his fear of a person (his Master) and a scenario (his Masters business) which was a misunderstanding in the first place, confuse and rob him of his duty, which was only to do the task right in front of him, to look after his talent. Because of fear and misunderstanding he missed out on the opportunity to use his talent, enjoy using and learning How to use it, reaping the rewards and sharing that, and more with his Master and the other servants.

This story reminded me again that God is a Dad, He is a loving Father. We may not always understand Him (the Master), in fact we CAN'T because He is an indescribable Being who controls the universe (His business) and we can't even control a fly or our lives properly, but we can know this: He has made us who we are, and there are things that we have been trusted with, people, jobs/chores, (home)work, decisions, opportunities and talents and if we are faithful with the few things right in front of us then when the time comes we can be trusted and blessed with more.

I hope this has blessed you as much as reading the story, and writing this speel has blessed me. Don't let life confuse you, don't be afraid, learn to enjoy who you are and what you have, and believe that He will always want to bless you.

Mona is key worker in Arnold