Sunday School Lesson

I taught the Sunday school today. The lessons are based on the gospel that day. Today's gospel was Matthew 25: 14-30, which is the one in which the Master gives a certain amount of money to three servants. To the first he gives 5 coins, which the servant doubles through business. The second one gets 2 coins, which he invests and earns double back. To the 3rd, he gave one coin, which that servant buries in the ground, afraid someone might take it. The lesson, of course, is a pretty obvious one for kids (and grown-ups, I suppose): Whatever your talent or treasure, or gift, be sure to share it to the glory of God, in the hope that the return is great. You may help someone else, you may spread the gospel, but if you hide it or don't use it, it is in essence, wasted. "Use it or lose it," I guess is another way to look at it.
I used it to talk about Christmas lists. The kids make lists of things they want for Christmas. But this time, I asked them to turn the list into things they can do to the glory of God for others, using what they had. We had a girl say she could do karate, and she'd teach her little sister to defend herself. We had a boy say he liked sports and could be a good sport and model it to others. Buzz offered he could wiggle his ears, and make people laugh. Good gifts, really.
This got me to think about another side to each of our "gifts," and perhaps even from whom we've inherited some of these traits. I had been thinking about this anyway, so it was an appropriate topic for me this week.
Every morning, Beaver gives me trouble about eating his breakfast, especially in a timely manner. It drives me crazy. Then, I realized, through my aggravation, that I, too, am not a huge breakfast eater, either. I'm just not hungry. In fact, I would rather wait a good hour or two before eating. Bear is a sensitive person, very caring and empathetic. He also cries at the drop of a hat over things like "we're out of popcorn." I, too, can be overly sensitive and so afraid to hurt someone's feelings that I might sacrifice my own. But that's not a gift, per se, it's just a quality. Let's try another one.
Buzz is a sentimental fellow. He saves literally everything, because everything has meaning to him. It's a curse because I find scraps of foil, sorry, future metal hats for Lego men, and I carelessly throw them out. Or there was the last rubber band he found on the playground before they tore it down to move it.
Going through my stuff, I have my first driver's license; a poem I wrote on a scrap of paper, just because I liked it; a broken watch that a former boyfriend gave me (why do I have that old thing anyway?). It's a curse because the stuff proliferates. You simply can't save all of it.
Let's turn it into a blessing to share: I have a good memory for odd trivia--not as good as my sister's--but I remember lots of details. I have a good memory for numbers, measurements, addresses, even the social security numbers. I know what medications my in-laws take and when their appointments are, so that if something happened, I know a possible explanation. Birthdays, anniversaries, dates--pretty good at that. Buzz is, too. He remembers events that occured when he was 3 years old. He is very interested in history and geneology. He is fascinated by all the tedious steps in how a combustion engine works. Rube Goldberg is a hero to him. In the end, my hope is that these sometimes "aggravating" qualities of my children can be turned into true gifts they can share with others in some way.
So, yes, using your talents appropriately is a blessing and necessary. It's also easy to abuse them too. A born leader may end up acting like a dictator; A musician or actor may end up in the wrong end of the industry. A "free spirited" person may forget to pick her kid up from school. Knowing how to incorporate your talent correctly can be difficult.
A friend of mine was contemplating what she possibly could offer another who seemed to have everything. I told her she is obviously in the person's life for a reason--that she filled some sort of gap. That person who has everything, probably envies that my friend lives more simply, or that she is incredibly organized and efficient. So in other words, we don't always know how we are using our gifts, we just are without knowing it. And as I told the Sunday school class, simply having the gift of hearing allows us to be good listeners, at the very least. And what friend doesn't need that gift shared?