Seeds of gifts and abilities have been planted inside each one of us, but for those seeds to grow to their full potential they must be watered to make sure they become fruitful.
Jesus cautions us in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 to ensure we invest our talents wisely. To not sit around waiting and doing little or nothing with all we have been given, but instead choosing to build those things that are important and valuable to us, that are needed and provide for and spread God’s goodness; to be an answer to someone else’s prayers. He wants us to think about the way we conduct our businesses, how we act and talk. Do we reflect Jesus in the way we operate, communicate and serve?
However in the pursuit of growing what we have had sown in our lives we must watch our runaway calendars because otherwise they will hold us hostage to tangible things like meetings, appointments and projects, without giving proper priority to the intangibles: who we are becoming, our relationships with family and friends, our connectedness to God and our purpose and God given assignments. Without conscious intervention our tendency to over-schedule means that the priorities we care about most and the talents we are to cultivate will take a backseat to the urgent noise of life every time.
One way we can start is by redrafting our schedule and filling it up the way God would fill it if He were in charge of our time and calendar. If we put God first and start plugging in the time slots of our calendar with those things that determine who we want to become and then fill in everything else around it we’ll gradually become the kind of people we want to be.
A good question to regularly ask is, “How would God have me spend my day?”
Secondly, don’t mistake the urgent for the important. Everyday concerns sound important but they’re usually not, they just sound important but are in fact simply urgent.
Don’t compare yourself with others. When we get into the comparison trap we can minimise and disregard the gifts and talents God has given us and end up doing nothing to grow our potential because we get discouraged by what others can or are being and doing. We can start to consider it pointless to even begin because we are looking at others rather than at Jesus and what and who He says we are.
Today consider what gifts and talents have been planted within you. Then make a decision to ensure you don’t disregard, minimise or get too busy and distracted in your everyday schedule that you leave no time or space to cultivate those things that God has invested in you to bless both your life and the lives of all those around you.
“ Everything we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power.” (2 Peter 1:3 The Passion translation)
Prayer: Jesus would you please be in charge of my schedule so that I use my day doing those things that are important and cause me to become all that I was created to be. Please help me to stay out of the comparison trap, which only leads to become discourage and minimise who I am and the gifts you have given. In Jesus name Amen.