At this time and at my age, I should have learned my lesson already. But I have not.
The Lord is a joyful giver. He gives out of his bounty and abundance. And then, like a doting father, watches us with joyful expectation what we do with his gifts of life and talents for us. I am reminded the many moments I have spent with my grandchildren. Often, I am as excited as they are with the gifts that they receive – either from me, their parents or other people. In my excitement, I would try to show them how to enjoy the toys or whatever they have received. And almost always, they’d chortle back, “I do it! I do it!” That’s how I imagine God to be when he watches us handling the gifts and talents he has given us. When he sees what the servants who have received five and three talents have done, he says to them gleefully, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Come, share your master’s joy.”
Often though, I find myself behaving like the servant who received one talent. I would ask for more. I would keep the talent afraid I might even lose it. I fail to see the joyful expectation of the Giver watching what I will do with what was given me. I hide the talents and passively wait. And I am right to expect the Giver’s disappointment. I again imagine myself being disappointed when children do not get excited with the gifts they receive.
The lesson I need to learn is to be always grateful fro everything I have. Everything I have, I have received without asking. And the Lord, being the God of Abundance, has given me everything I need. He is just waiting what I will do with the gifts and talents he has poured on me. And I still do not get it.