The Parable of the Talents

     I am going to assume that people reading this know the parable of the talents.  If not, those of you who do just skip this paragraph.  God gave a certain amount of talents (money) to three men.  Two of the men took the money and made more and one of them took the money and buried it.  Then God met with each of the men and he was pleased with the men who took the money and made more and displeased with the one who didn't and gave his money to the man who had the most money. 
     I always thought this story was mean growing up, but I knew deep down God wasn't mean, so I just avoided thinking about the story at all.  I guess if I were asked, I would say it meant that God gave us each gifts and we should use them for him and if we do not use them for him then we have wasted what God gave us and God doesn't like that.  But today for the first time I thought about it from the viewpoint of the servant who buried his money.  Why did he bury it?  The answer was so easy for me.  Fear.  This parable is about fear.  The servant wasn't lazy.  He was just scared.      This really opened my eyes.
    It was not about the performance of the servants at all.  How often do we read a parable and name the heart of it?  I know the reason I do not use my gifts when I know I should is because of fear. 
     I heard this girl sing one time at church and her voice was just beautiful.  Really, in terms of pleasing to the ear, probably no other singer could match it, but that was not what was so impressive about her.  What was most impressive was how she sang.  You felt closer to God through her singing.  I got a chance to talk to her afterward and I told her how beautiful her voice was and you know what she said?  "For me, there is no other reason to sing."  I am humbled to dust as I recount this to you.  I am sure she had fear at some point, but the joy of raising her voice to God was just too great.  This is how fear gets swallowed up.

      I used to sing.  I sang in many places for many people, but I never do now.  Do you know why?  Because I was always full of fear.  I was always so fearful I was going to mess up or that people would not like me or that people were just pretending to like me all along.  Fear overshadowed any ounce of joy I could have had.  And fear still does.  I can hardly sing when I am alone.  God wasn't mad at the servant who buried his talent, God hates fear and what it does to us.   You fill in the blank now.  Big or small does not exist.
      "For me there is no other reason to bake, to draw, to write, to paint, to speak, to mentor, to sew, to fix, to construct, to guide, to teach, to encourage, to compose, to play an instrument, to dance....to live"
    God wants us never to fear our gifts he has so preciously bestowed upon us.  So just take one gift, even the smallest (Luckily God doesn't see small), and use it for Him.