Each of us comes into this world with gifts, talents and skills. Society holds the actress/actor, singer, writer, athlete or politician high as a standard of talent which has been groomed and perfected. But there are other talents, not as evident, which are of greater value in the world.
God gave all His children talents that, if developed and utilized properly, will aid Him in bringing all the children of God back home . . . where He anxiously awaits our return.
In the book of Matthew we read of a group of men who were given the same number of talents and then we learn what each did. Some grew their talents, others buried them in the earth to protect them. Guess which ones the Master was happiest with? Oh yes, the one who grew his talents. Equate those with the talents you have been given.
Have you the gift of listening? Caring? Loving? Learning? Teaching? Preaching the word of God? There are untold and unheralded numbers of talents in the world. Perhaps you may have the gift of looking out at the world and seeing her majestic mountains, her jungles teeming with life, her desert sands with rock formations rising high above, all the earth with her many beauties. It is possible you have the gift of seeing beyond the wars, rumors of wars, crime, poverty, illness and sorrow to the eternities which we are reminded of in the smile of a baby. The more overt gifts were mentioned at the beginning. But these subtler gifts are the glue that holds society together.
If you pull them into your heart, never sharing these marvelous gifts, you will be as the one who buried his talent. Elder Ronald A. Rasband, of the Seventy, said:
Every person comes to earth as a unique individual. Similar threads may run in families, but each of us has a tapestry all our own. Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote: “Each person in this life is endowed with those talents and capacities which his pre-earth life entitle him to receive. Some by obedience to law acquired one talent and some another.” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. (1966–73), 1:688)
The Lord made it clear that it is not good enough for us simply to return to Him the talents He has given us. We are to improve upon and add to our talents. He has promised that if we multiply our talents we will receive eternal joy.
In modern revelation the Lord affirmed the principles in this parable: “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) – (Ronald A. Rasband, “Parables of Jesus: The Parable of the Talents,” Ensign, Aug 2003, 32–35)
We, as the children of God, were sent to earth to grow. We grow by developing the skills and talents given us by God in order that we might help others to develop their talents and remember who they are.
Learn what yours are, develop them until you have become the master of those talents and then use them to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Above all, acknowledge Jesus Christ in your successes, for all our talents and abilities come from God. As you do so, the day will arrive where you too will hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
