Talk about your surreal experiences! Linda and I recently graduated our middle daughter from the University of Central Missouri. We are so incredibly proud of both she and her husband! We noticed when they announced her name the announcer didn’t get it quite right. They announced her as, Katie Paddock Coomlawdy. It seemed she had several relatives that day. Then it dawned on me that what they meant to say was, Cum laude. We wuz proud!
Katie and John are such quality kids. I know I suffer (as most parents do) from a case of the brags. But, please allow me to do so; I won’t make it too long. In talking with one of John’s Air Force supervisors, he told me he wished he could have a hundred John Paddocks. Then there’s our Katie, the Tech/worship director of their church in Missouri said similar words of her! I have to confess, my head swelled a little. God is unfolding His wonderful, exciting plan for their lives, and it’s fun and fulfilling to watch.
I believe most parents have a tendency to want to take at least some credit for our children’s successes. (present company included) But, I know that it is really by God’s grace that it goes the way it does. His everlasting love and tender mercy are where total credit goes. All we can do as parents is love them hard, point them in the right direction to the best of our ability and obedience, and pray for them.
As I’ve been musing about this experience, I thought of one of my favorite scriptures. Once again, it comes from Deut. 6:4-9. I especially love the first part of the verses know as the sh’ma, but when I went to my bible to look at this passage, I noticed something I hadn’t notice in a while. I have these verses highlighted so they will stand out, but something jumped out at me this time. I had on some previous occasion circled and set apart the word “impress” at the beginning of verse 7. The first part of this section tells us to love God with our whole being. The second half admonishes us to teach this to our kids. “Impress” it on them. Live your faith out loud, breath, eat, pray, play, do it all in that context. Give all you’ve got for God! I will be quick to confess that we haven’t lived it out all the time. I’ve had moments where I know I have failed miserably as a parent. But, God seems to apply His wonderful grace and mercy to all those failures too. It makes sense to me that when you read and study God’s word, you come to know it better; it will change your life. It is an encounter with God and we should come away changed in some way. Over time in that growing relationship, you come to understand His grace, mercy, and love better. It would also appear to me that we should come to be examples of His love, grace and mercy, if we indeed love Him with our all. As we grow in faith, it is taught and learned, and the cycle continues, for generations. It really is all about Him!
So, thank you Lord for our children. They are the most incredible of earthly blessings, and we love them and cherish them!
By the way, have I talked to you about our daughters Laurie and Stephanie?
Well, I’ll save that for another time!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Leveraging Your Talents
This is the first installment under the category of Encouragement. It would be better described under the guise of exhortation, because in this particular instance the Word is so emphatic. The text is Matt. 25:14-30, the Parable of the Talents.
There are a number of reasons I love this text. I’ve always found it interesting that the word “talent” is the way this form of exchange translates. It is indeed talking about money, but if you think in terms of possessions or resources it really drives the point home. Especially, to those of us that are delusional enough to think we actually possess talent.
Point one: Talents are given to whomever the master pleases. In vs.14 it says the master, “entrusted his property to them.” They become ours in that we are stewards of them, nothing more, nothing less. That has been a hard one for me to grasp. I think our human tendency is to take hold of things, especially ones we work hard for, and excuse God from the picture. In most cases I don’t believe it’s intentional, but as we develop and grow, pride can start to seed in our hearts. I know... I’ve done it! I start to think far more of myself than is true. When that seed starts to take root, it comes up poison ivy. (That’s a whole other topic for another time.) It’s not mine... it’s His! It’s not yours either! (Sorry)
Point two: The Master determines the amount of talents given. The truth stings sometimes. My prideful self-perception might be that I’m a 5-talent dude. Reality points to the fact that I’m really a one or two. Reality shouldn’t stop me from investing though! Whatever amount I’m given, my part of the deal is investment. In a sense, I’m a broker. The beautiful thing is, I can’t lose on this investment. It’s the intent of my actions that counts. If the master has entrusted me with these talents, my job is to leverage them in the best way I see fit. I don’t necessarily have to be clever, just faithful. Remember, they’re His first. If I am faithful, how could my investment fail? In the first two cases, both servants doubled the talents they were given. That’s a 100% return! 100%! Did you catch that? How many investments do you know of where the return is 100%? The power of what we’re given to invest has the ability to grow far beyond our wildest imagination! As the broker, our job is to leverage our talents. He’ll supply the return on the investment.
Point three: Use ‘em or lose ‘em! It’s sad to come across someone who thinks that they have nothing to invest. Or because they are given a proportionately smaller amount of talents, are paralyzed by the fear of losing it all. Status quo is not acceptable! The One, who created you in His image, has imprinted your DNA with incredible potential to succeed in this type of investing. Faithfulness is the key!
No doubt, this particular text will be the source of many future posts. The summary for today is: if you can fog a mirror, you are a “talent” broker. You have a responsibility to leverage whatever God gives you, (that would be everything by the way) to bring Him glory. So, start investing, the return is unbelievable!
There are a number of reasons I love this text. I’ve always found it interesting that the word “talent” is the way this form of exchange translates. It is indeed talking about money, but if you think in terms of possessions or resources it really drives the point home. Especially, to those of us that are delusional enough to think we actually possess talent.
Point one: Talents are given to whomever the master pleases. In vs.14 it says the master, “entrusted his property to them.” They become ours in that we are stewards of them, nothing more, nothing less. That has been a hard one for me to grasp. I think our human tendency is to take hold of things, especially ones we work hard for, and excuse God from the picture. In most cases I don’t believe it’s intentional, but as we develop and grow, pride can start to seed in our hearts. I know... I’ve done it! I start to think far more of myself than is true. When that seed starts to take root, it comes up poison ivy. (That’s a whole other topic for another time.) It’s not mine... it’s His! It’s not yours either! (Sorry)
Point two: The Master determines the amount of talents given. The truth stings sometimes. My prideful self-perception might be that I’m a 5-talent dude. Reality points to the fact that I’m really a one or two. Reality shouldn’t stop me from investing though! Whatever amount I’m given, my part of the deal is investment. In a sense, I’m a broker. The beautiful thing is, I can’t lose on this investment. It’s the intent of my actions that counts. If the master has entrusted me with these talents, my job is to leverage them in the best way I see fit. I don’t necessarily have to be clever, just faithful. Remember, they’re His first. If I am faithful, how could my investment fail? In the first two cases, both servants doubled the talents they were given. That’s a 100% return! 100%! Did you catch that? How many investments do you know of where the return is 100%? The power of what we’re given to invest has the ability to grow far beyond our wildest imagination! As the broker, our job is to leverage our talents. He’ll supply the return on the investment.
Point three: Use ‘em or lose ‘em! It’s sad to come across someone who thinks that they have nothing to invest. Or because they are given a proportionately smaller amount of talents, are paralyzed by the fear of losing it all. Status quo is not acceptable! The One, who created you in His image, has imprinted your DNA with incredible potential to succeed in this type of investing. Faithfulness is the key!
No doubt, this particular text will be the source of many future posts. The summary for today is: if you can fog a mirror, you are a “talent” broker. You have a responsibility to leverage whatever God gives you, (that would be everything by the way) to bring Him glory. So, start investing, the return is unbelievable!
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