"Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath."
Matthew 25:24-29
This is the end of the parable of the talents, and this time when I read it I was wondering about the whole idea of taking away what you have, because you didn't do anything with it... and I feel like it is kind of like our lives. God sends us to earth to get a body and to learn who we are when we have to make our own choices. Kind of a coming of age thing if you will... being on our own for the first time and having to make those calls for ourselves and develop into ourselves as independent beings. ... But what if we don't? What if we just blow it off and wait for God to "command in all things" (D&C 58:26)? What if we don't have our own hopes and dreams and we don't make anything happen, but just sit back and let things happen to us passively? Would that be the equivalent of the man with one talent that buried it?
I think what God is "taking away" here is opportunity, because theoretically in this situation we essentially wasted what we had. It's similar to the parable of the 10 virgins. They were waiting to go into the wedding, and some of them were well prepared and some of them were not. We get hung up on the other 5 virgins not sharing, or on the door being shut and not allowing latecomers, but if we're comparing it to life... that's the way it is. We can't make choices for someone else and have *them* grow into something because of it. And when death comes, that door normally cannot be opened again except into a different life. The oil and the talents in our parables are talking about opportunities that no one can act on for us. We gather the oil or multiply the talent individually.
Today, let's work on building something worthwhile in our lives, and have something to show for ourselves. It doesn't have to be earth-shattering. Just anything... let's find a way to make a difference for good, and then we'll have something for the Lord to multiply. :)
And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath."
Matthew 25:24-29
This is the end of the parable of the talents, and this time when I read it I was wondering about the whole idea of taking away what you have, because you didn't do anything with it... and I feel like it is kind of like our lives. God sends us to earth to get a body and to learn who we are when we have to make our own choices. Kind of a coming of age thing if you will... being on our own for the first time and having to make those calls for ourselves and develop into ourselves as independent beings. ... But what if we don't? What if we just blow it off and wait for God to "command in all things" (D&C 58:26)? What if we don't have our own hopes and dreams and we don't make anything happen, but just sit back and let things happen to us passively? Would that be the equivalent of the man with one talent that buried it?
I think what God is "taking away" here is opportunity, because theoretically in this situation we essentially wasted what we had. It's similar to the parable of the 10 virgins. They were waiting to go into the wedding, and some of them were well prepared and some of them were not. We get hung up on the other 5 virgins not sharing, or on the door being shut and not allowing latecomers, but if we're comparing it to life... that's the way it is. We can't make choices for someone else and have *them* grow into something because of it. And when death comes, that door normally cannot be opened again except into a different life. The oil and the talents in our parables are talking about opportunities that no one can act on for us. We gather the oil or multiply the talent individually.
Today, let's work on building something worthwhile in our lives, and have something to show for ourselves. It doesn't have to be earth-shattering. Just anything... let's find a way to make a difference for good, and then we'll have something for the Lord to multiply. :)
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