One Talent, Plus Interest

by Gail Schilling

And to one he gave five talents … and to another one,

to each according to his own ability. -- Matt. 25:15

True confession: When my friend Cynnie emailed that St. Paul’s was cranking up the Ten Talents Challenge again this year, I was glad to be in Florida and off the hook. When it comes to turning profits, I’m a dud.

That first Challenge year, I decided to decorate a fancy Valentine cake and bake some Swedish limpa rye bread to sell. Only 15 minutes into the baking, however, I smelled smoke -- a melted oven element. By the time the landlord fixed it, the cake had collapsed, and the bread dough ballooned into useless, yeasty blobs.

The next week I again spent hours making crusty, fragrant rye loaves and squash rolls. Wow! Six loaves plus 4 dozen rolls. I can make a dent in the church deficit! Alas, it was not to be. That Sunday morning snow and icy rain made me fear driving to church. Could I walk with a 15 lb. basket? With no shoveled sidewalks? I dunked a squash roll in my coffee and gazed at sleet pelting the windowpane. I could freeze the bread, but I could not in good conscience sell it defrosted the following week.  By week four, I quit trying and pondered anew the “unprofitable servant.” When the challenged ended, I returned my original $10 and slunk away, for I had made no money.

The next year, I knit hats.  Each took five hours and generated $10. I turned in $30 and would have turned in even more if the cat I babysat hadn’t used the last hat for an angora commode. So much for the Ten Talents Challenge. I tried. I really tried. But my God-given talent is writing – hardly an impulse buy like artwork, bread, and BBQ sauce.

Then this morning, I thought – Just write a check for Ten Talents and be done with it!  I remembered that Daily Guideposts had recently paid me for a piece that takes place at St. Paul’s.* Not only is that check worth a pile of hats, but the story describes my unlikely interim as church secretary in 2012, another time I felt marginally useful at St. Paul’s.

So I’m donating the entire Daily Guideposts payment to this year’s Ten Talents challenge in lieu of a cash ’n carry item. It’s taken a while, but I now discern that God richly blesses me with this, my One Talent, and leads me to use it in unforeseen ways. I just need to remember that return on Investment takes place in God’s time, not my own.

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*to be published in 2016

For more information on Gail’s writing visit :  http://www.guideposts.org/daily-guideposts