The Parable Of Talents

Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid. ~ Albert Einstein

As part of my bible reading plan this year, I read the parable of talents this morning and it inspired this post. There are a few lessons from it you may want to embrace:

 

1. Whatever you have (skills, talents, resources) is proportionate to your ability and capacity. If you want to increase any of them, you will need to increase your capacity first.

 

2. Your skills, talents, resources are not inferior to others’. What you have is unique to you. What you have is 100% on your level. Be the best at what you are good at. Be excellent at your level.

 

3. The only way you can improve, increase your skills, talents, and resources is to put them to use. Invest them and see them grow as you grow as well.

 

4. As you give expression to one gift, skill or talent; it can lead to the discovery of another skill, talent or gift you never knew you had. Joseph had the gift of dreams. He later discovered his gift of interpreting dreams, leadership, human development and strategic thinking

 

5. No one is without a gift; you have something unique to you. Discover it and give expression to it. Don’t look down or be demeaning to whatever you have.

 

6. Your level of faithfulness and commitment to your skills, gifts, talents and resources will determine your level of promotion and progress. If you are faithful and responsible with little, then more will be committed to your hands.

 

I encourage you to invest your skills, talents, and gifts, no matter how little or insignificant they may seem. One of the best ways to develop and invest your skills is by working. We spend one third of our lives working. What we do for work, career is a big part of our lives, and there is no other way to develop our skills. One mistake my generation made is choosing careers our talents and skills would not thrive in.

 

I would like you to ask yourself this question, “Can I do what I currently do without being paid?” If your answer is yes, you have found the career that allows your skills and talent to thrive and develop. If your answer is no, you need to reassess yourself and pursue the discovery of what you are truly passionate about. It would be a disaster to spend one third of your life doing something you don’t love or not passionate about.

 

The real reward for doing what you are passionate about is the sense of fulfilment and satisfaction you get. Money can’t buy that! The monthly salary should be an additional benefit and not the main reason for doing what you do. That’s one of the sources of true, sustainable happiness in life. I don’t want to believe life is just about earning to pay increasing monthly bills. There must be something more than paying bills. Life is too precious to live it just to pay bills.

Tagged: GIFTS, SKILLS, TALENTS