December 29, 2007,
Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City, Utah, 2007)
It’s Dec. 29 and I have just what you need — another New Year’s resolution to keep. By the end of this column, I’m hoping you will add it to your list.
But first, let me set the table.
Not long ago, a sister from Colombia spoke to the young women in our LDS* branch. I dropped in to listen. She was giving a crisp and candid little lesson that featured the parable of the talents.
Most people know the parable by heart. A rich man is going on a business trip, so he calls his “helpers” together and divides things up. He gives one fellow five talents (a lot of money), another he gives two talents (less money) and a third gets one talent (not so much). While the boss is away, the first and second guys double the money they were given, but the third guy is the Nervous Nelly. He buries his in the ground. When the boss returns, he rewards the first two, but tells the third he’s “wicked” and “slothful” and banishes him.
There are a dozen ways of looking at parables, of course. The Colombian sister used the word “talent” with its double meaning — as many do — and told the girls they needed to develop their God-given abilities, their “talents.” But no matter how that parable gets explained, I always end up feeling sorry for the third servant — the one who gets scolded for burying the money. I feel sorry for him because he reminds me of me. I’m terrible with investments. I’m a right brained newspaper columnist. If I were that guy, I’d be scared to death of losing that money and I’d do just what “Mr. Wicked” did — I’d sock it away so I couldn’t squander it.
Apparently, that was the wrong answer.
But while mulling over the parable not long ago, it occurred to me I’d made a classic blunder. Jesus used a worldly example to symbolize the kingdom of heaven, so I was thinking about it in worldly terms.
What the Master had given his servants wasn’t wads of money; he’d given them a portion of heaven — with all the peace, warmth, generosity and love that entails. The parable wasn’t about doubling investments; it was about sharing the joy that God gives us.
It’s a parable about “spreading the good news.” And the guy who buried his slice of the kingdom wasn’t being smart or timid; he was being very selfish. He was saying, “I’ve found peace and happiness. I got mine. You get yours, and leave me out of it.”
The story is a sister parable to the one about the woman who finds a gold coin and tells everybody about it so they can rejoice with her. It’s a sister to the one about putting your candle on a candlestick so everyone in the house can enjoy the glow.
It’s a parable about allowing others to feel the same spiritual joy that you feel, satisfaction that never belonged to us in the first place.
So that’s my contribution to your list of New Year’s resolutions this year. If you feel a sense of warmth and optimism about life, realize it’s a gift. Pass it along. Touch a few lives with it.
And have a happy New Year. Or, as they say in Spanish, may your new year be “prosperous” — spiritually.
* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, cf. ldschurch.org for more information.