Talents and Gifts

Monday, August 25, 2014

Talents and gifts

Wishing you a happy Monday and may your Mondays always be filled with hope and expectations of great things happening.

I was in my thirties before I learned that a parable in the New Testament of the Bible about talents was not a reference to natural abilities and gifts but that talents were actually measurements of money in those days. In my forties when I got employed in the financial services industry this parable took on a even more interesting meaning for me. In the financial services industry I learned that money grows effectively at 10% per year. Therefore if money is invested at this rate after seven years the principal will double.
This parable in the Bible today would go something like this. An employer was going out of town for some time so he called his employees and gave them some money to invest. He gave to one $500,000.00, to another $200,000.00 and to the third $100,000.00. He gave to each according to their ability. The first and second invested and doubled the money they got but the third kept his securely at home to return it to his employer. After seven years the employer returned and checked on his employees to see how well they had done.
The man in this story had he made the attempt he  could have found an institution and invested the money he got at 10% and at the end of the seven years he too would have doubled his money with far less effort and risk than the other two.

On the matter of gifts and talents when I was young I envied the popularity and praise others got for their gifts and talents because I was made to understand that I did not possess any. Later in life  I became the envy of others because I possessed no gifts and talents but I managed to get so much done. My secret was that I was willing to learn and to try.

There are three things that are common to every man. They are thoughts, dreams and opportunities. On average we have two thoughts per minute, it is a pity to let all go to waste. Everyone has a dream of something he would like to do or achieve, this could be the foundation to start something. Opportunity in one form or another comes to every man, do not wait for something big but capitalize on the small. Once work is begun on any of these three there will be natural offshoots.
If what you consider doing  seem too big then this is a good sign because easy or immediate success mean that the task or challenge was not big enough. success only comes after failure.

This week put in a little extra in whatever you do. It may be five, ten or fifteen minutes or maybe an hour. Remember the effort you put in will determine the result you get.