Gifts from God

Gifts From God

Submitted by Thomas Stidl

A talent is a gift from God. In biblical times a talent was worth about twenty years of wages. The parable from Jesus states that before a master left for a journey, he gave five talents to one servant, three talents to another servant, and one to the other servant. As the parable relates, the servants with five and three talents each doubled their worth while the servant with one talent buried his in the ground. When the master returned, he praised the two servants who doubled their talents. He then began to shame the third servant who buried his talent in the ground instead of working with the talent or at least investing the talent in a bank so the the master might have interest compounded on his investment. The third servant failed in all respects and had the one talent taken from him and given to the servant who originally was given five.

In the beginning of this article, I stated that a talent was a gift from God. I have a natural mathematical talent. In the process of my data processing career, I needed to develop better written and oral communication skills. My job was to understand what a client needed and either communicate it to the programming staff or actually write the computer program that resolved all issues. These communication skills assisted me in two career changes. One career change was in tax preparation and the other career change which was real estate sales.

Now that I am in my early seventy's, I began to develop my writing skills even further. All of you are the beneficiaries of that development. I saw a need in the Catholic Church for lay people such as myself to preach and teach the Gospel as God gives me the light to see His message. This feels like a calling to spread a better understanding of God's word and at times create a dialogue where ideas can be exchanged freely.

This is where all good readers of this article must now question yourselves. Am I still developing talents or have I stopped? Every time you develop a talent, you are still growing. If you are currently pondering what to develop and are unsure of what to do next, take that thought in prayer to the Lord, especially the Holy Spirit. He will guide you. For our youth, make your first venture in your professional life to be using the strongest talent that you have. Take my advice. With the assistance of the Holy Spirit, you will develop other talents in your career, personal life, and in your retirement. Please pass this article on to our youth. They will need guidance and encouragement. Enjoy life to its fullest.

Until next time, Laus Tibi, Christe. Laus Deo. Deo Gratias. See you in
Paradise. Amen.