Your Talent Equals Your Money

It always struck me as odd, when I was a child, that the Biblical story of the men given talents where expected to invest them. I was just learning that it was money you invested, not talent.

Talent to us ten-year-olds was being able to run fast or throw a curve ball. Drawing well was a talent, so was playing a musical instrument. We just never thought of talents as something you put into a bank or you could be punished for not developing.

So when I first heard this story and didn’t make any metaphorical leap, I filed it away for further thought. As personal development entered my adult life the leap became more like a simple step and recently I was visiting with my aunt who had just returned from a church service. The reading and sermon had been on this very parable. (The Matthew 25:13-30 version is better than the Luke 19:11-26 one.)

Three men are givens talents (money) to be used while their master is away. The first turns 5 into 10, the second turns 2 into 4 while the third buries his talent.

Buries his talent! Hides it from sight, from criticism, from the possibility of it being lost or diminished! Of course he is the one who is punished and cast out of his master’s house for not turning his talent into more.

For an adult this story’s moral is so obvious: take your talents and make the most of them. If you don’t, you’re cheating not only yourself but the rest of society.

And if you’re not sure what your talent is, here’s how to find out:

Whatever comes easy to you and gathers compliment is your talent. Just get to work making it easier and easier for yourself, to the point where people will not only say good things about you but will pay you for what you do so well.

That’s how not to bury your talent but turn it into money.

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