From time to
time, each of us encounters our human limitations. As I age, I become frustrated at what
sometimes takes me twice the time or longer to accomplish half of what I might have done
as a younger person. I remember one time
when I went to work at 5AM on my day off (my day usually started at 7AM) with
one task in mind—to clean some storage rooms that one of the General Managers
had been having trouble getting done due to personnel budgetary concerns, and
had asked me to help. There were 13
rooms to clean and in my prime I could clean a room and get it ‘customer ready’
in about 20 minutes—tops! That would let
me get done by nine o’clock in the morning, and I would have the rest of the day
at home.
Things
didn’t go as planned! In fact, several times I thought about giving up my
efforts—it was my day off, after all. First,
my body wasn’t used to physical labor at the earlier hour and it told me so by
giving me a terrific headache accompanied by sore muscles before the first hour
was up. Second, it was the wintertime,
and therefore too cold and dark at 5AM to be effective at a chore that required that I
work by daylight. Third, a long-time
customer had recently moved out of one of the larger units after 8 years, so it
needed a lot more work than I anticipated.
It took me seven hours to clean that one unit, so I went to lunch at
noon feeling pretty frustrated.
After lunch
I apologized to the manager for not accomplishing as much as I set out to do. His reaction was great though, and very
understanding. He said he appreciated my
offer of helping on my day off, and that getting that one room “out of his
hair” was a huge help! He used the
expression, “Thank God you were here today!”
He made me feel that my efforts had been noticed and appreciated; but it
was his ‘thanksgiving’ to God for my presence that gave me a real sense of
worth, and made me want to do more for him (which I did).
When I’m at
the ‘top of my game’, feeling great and full of energy, I can easily become
convinced of my own power and 'talents', and perhaps forget to step back to
recognize that it’s the gifts of God’s spirit within me, through me and, at
times, in spite of myself that allows others to truly know God’s presence in
our world.
It’s easy to
resonate with St. Paul as he speaks of carrying the treasure of God’s message
in earthen vessels, “…afflicted in every way, but not crushed,
full of doubts, but never despairing…struck down, but never destroyed….So then,
death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-15)
The focus
for all our tomorrows is found in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). While we may not know for certain whether we
should identify with the person to whom the master gave five talents, or two
talents, or one talent, we probably can make a good guess. It really doesn't matter, because the
master's expectations for each of his servants were the same: make the best use
of whatever talents I have given you.
Just don't bury them (or, in my own example above, give up)! By thinking
and praying and asking for advice, you'll come up with some good ideas on how
to invest them. Every day is a day to
labor for the truth, to give loving service to the poor, and to praise the Lord—through
the Mass and Divine Office, through private prayer and private reflection, or
perhaps with a friend.
The current
COVID crisis has many of us thinking that this may be the only day left for us
to reconcile with someone whom we have offended, or who has offended us, to
atone for some wrong, to go visit an elderly cousin, to play with our
grandchildren. How precious are the
talents and the time given us to use them!
If we consider this day as perhaps our last day, then our talents will
be used, and the benefits for us and others multiplied beyond belief. And it's all because we’ve developed the habit
of making each day as precious. “This
is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
With joy in the opportunities of today, we need never fear the final Day
of the Lord.
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