It's All About the Using

I have a hard time "peopling." I mean, I like it when I'm doing it --smiling, laughing, talking about whatever comes up in conversation, listening intently to others' stories (which, quite honestly, I love to do, but more like a sponge and less like a participant). But, when faced with the prospect I am going to have to "people" when I leave the house, it takes every ounce of Jesus to get me out that front door. And when it is time to go, I make for the car, white-knuckling it home, radio off, total silence; I barely get in the door before I am ready to shovel my way through a huge bowl of pasta or sink into the darkness and isolation of-- well, any place dark and isolated. Crazy, I know. Especially since God gave me a big smile and a ridiculous desire to express myself; I am so much more comfortable typing or putting pen to paper when it comes to that expression, however. I've read about world-famous performers who have terrible stage fright-- I'm talking, throwing up backstage stage fright --but they have a gift, and when they actually begin to use that gift alone or in front of stadium crowds, their fears leave. That's sort of how I feel. When it's happening, when I'm "peopling" it's a rush, but the before and after are agonizing.

Matthew 25:14-30, is the Parable of the Talents, as it is known. (If you click on the link, it will take you to biblegateway.com where the passage is shown in three separate versions, hopefully, for a clearer understanding.) For years I had trouble identifying the issue the master had with "one-talent guy." As someone who watched her parents take unnecessary financial risks (and suffer the consequences) burying some cash for safekeeping didn't seem like such an offense to me. But, it was never about the keeping, losing, or increasing; it was all about the using. If One-Talent Guy had tripled the cash in some sketchy, illegal Ponzi scheme, would the master have been any less irate? I don't think so. It's clear, the master had loaned them those talents for the purpose of using them and using them prudently, as his agents, to increase his franchise. Holding back was not the purpose-- regardless of One-Talent's motives.

We all have gifts. We all have those things we are great at doing or just seem to come naturally to us. Some of us have no problem waking up in the morning, putting on that gift, and going to work. Some of us need to be dragged out into life kicking and screaming, only to find that, once we are working in our gift, we are as "at home" as we were when we were truly at home. That's because they are gifts, loaned to us for the purpose of using them and using them prudently (as directed by our guide, the Holy Spirit, and God's precepts, the Word), as His agents, to increase His franchise. We are not alone in the management of those gifts and we are not powerless in the struggle to walk in them. 

So, take some activated charcoal, diffuse some lavender, call a friend for prayer-- do what you need to do --get out there and use the gifts you've been given for the glory of God!