Contemplation on the Parable of the Talents

Wow, did I ever fall off the blogging bandwagon.  I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I've blogged.  There are a few reasons: 1) I had a baby and homeschooled without the help of my mom (seriously, that first year was a breeze in large part because of my mom) and 2) I got a smartphone, which has sucked away my internet time.  My poor computer has been crying in a corner, cold and neglected, yearning for some morsel of attention.

Well. Here it is.  I've decided that enough is enough.  Smart phones are not the devil, but they certainly haven't helped my productivity, and they have definitely added to the already distracted nature of being a mother.  It seems every conference talk I read warns in some way of the distraction of our day: "Searching #spaciousbuilding for knowledge will not lead you to truth. It’s not posted there. Only the Savior has “the words of eternal life.”⁸ Everything else is just words" (Kevin W Pearson). Or this one: " Are you careful with your time—avoiding inappropriate technology and social media, including video games, which can dull your spiritual sensitivity?" (M. Russell Ballard).  Or from the Book of Mormon:  "And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security..." (2 Ne. 28:21). 

Anyway, my point is,  in my life, I really feel that I need to spend my time more wisely,becoming more conscientious of how I use this small window of time that I have to prepare to meet God.

Right now, I am in the middle of teaching my Primary kids the Second Coming parables: The Ten Virgins, The Talents, and the Goats and the Sheep.  I love these parables, because they make me really think about if I am ready for the Savior to come again.  Which group of the ten virgins would I fall in with? Am I magnifying my current talents and developing new talents? Am I serving people as much as I can in my life? In other words, am I truly a disciple of Christ? When He appears, will I be like Him, and will I know Him?

This week was the Parable of the Talents.  In preparation for this talk, I reviewed this article by Donald Rasband, of the Seventy. He lays out three principles that can be applied to the parable of the talents: 1) Seek to know what talents you have 2) Use your talents to build the kingdom of God 3) Acknowledge God's hand in your success.  

I don't know about you, but thinking about what your talents are can be somewhat difficult to acknowledge.  It's hard to be that direct and introspective.  But maybe we're not thinking properly about what a talent is.  It doesn't need to be something that the world sees as an ability.  The gifts that we're talking about in this parable are more spiritual gifts, in my mind.

In the parable, the servant with one talent explained to the master that he hid his talent because he was afraid. In D&C 60, the Lord explains,  “But with some I am not well pleased, for … they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. … Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known” (D&C 60:2, 13).

This fear factor has made me start thinking, what are some talents that I possess that the Lord would be displeased with me hiding? One talent, or spiritual gift, that I thought of was motherhood.  

How is motherhood a talent? Well, think of this: every woman has the ability to be a mother, either biologically or through adoption or by being a motherly influence in others' lives.  It is an innate gift women are simply given by God.  I think we live in a day and age where women hide the talent of motherhood in a variety of ways, but the root reason is fear, just as the man in the parable.  They fear messing up a child's life, they fear not having the money to take care of the child, they fear losing their identity in the child, they fear destroying their body, they fear not having a supportive man, the list goes on and on.  There are a lot of reasons to be afraid of motherhood.  It is scary.

BUT, the opposite of fear is faith. When we choose fear over faith, we will lose not only our current gifts, but gifts we could have possessed, according to the parable of the talents. So apply this to motherhood. When you decide to embrace the talent of motherhood and use the gift, you gain so much.  You gain so many talents.  You gain the talent of patience. When you are asked for the umpteenth time when we can start the week of ice cream delivery, you gently say, "At the end of the month." You gain the talent of unconditional love.  It is amazing how your heart can expand for each child.  You think you could never love a baby as much as your first baby, but you do again, and again, and again. You gain the talent of multitasking.  I have had moments where I am making dinner with my "helper" Ruby, timing Dottie on a math worksheet, correcting Elliot on the piano, and feeding the baby lunch. That is a talent!! You gain the talent of selflessness. Again, I am less than perfect at this.  But it's really okay when that baby wakes up for the fifth time, just because she wants to nurse and nuzzle your skin. It's okay because you love her more than yourself.  You gain the talent of compassion. When your son is scared silly by lightning in the middle of the night, you just let him pet your hair and say, "I know, I know." You gain the talent of humility. You may think you're pretty smart, graduating cum laude from college, but then you realize you aren't when there are literally no safe places to hide the chocolate from the children.

There are more talents, I am sure, that I am not thinking of, but I think of not only what I would be losing from not developing the talent of motherhood, but of the utter disappointment of my Savior and the truly gnashing of teeth I would experience if I were to say to him, "But I was afraid...". I never want to be in that position. 

So with this comparison, I wonder, what other talents am I not developing? What am I afraid of? How can I tranform that fear into faith? What can I do better to be prepared for the day I meet Him, face to face?

Anyway, sorry no pictures.  I still don't know how to transfer them from my smartphone to the computer.  I guess my smartphone isn't so smart afterall.