One thing I’ve noticed this year is a disturbingly steady sense of being stuck in time. Waiting for change in order to become unstuck. Waiting for any number of things to happen before taking initiative. I’ve noticed this in so many others that I’ve come to accept it as a condition, albeit a temporary condition, of this strange time.
Then came the national election. A great surge of energy erupted and flowed everywhere as Americans voted in historic numbers. For me, it was the October day I mailed my ballot that I broke open. A seemingly simple, single action, yet my natural impulses toward activism had been restrained for so long that the simple act of voting was exhilarating! My hopes about the outcome of the election fluctuated over the subsequent weeks but the energetic freedom of enthusiastic action continued to pulse unrestricted.
Jesus tells a story in today’s gospel* about a master who gives his property to three servants according to their abilities. After a long time, the master returns and the accounting shows that the two given the most show big results, were found trustworthy and given more. Best of all, they were invited to into the joy of their master. But the one who was given the least said he had been afraid, buried it and did nothing. His gift was taken away. The master called him wicked and lazy and had him thrown into outer darkness.
Harsh, right? Yet as I reflect deeply on this story I realize Jesus is the master and the wicked, lazy servant never recognized his master’s true nature. Jesus is the trustworthy giver of abundance, the evoker of developing potential and creativity. Because of the servant’s lack of understanding and lack of faith, he did not even try. His own potential was stuck and the master’s gift did not produce anything at all.
With the limitations of this pandemic time, I have not been as stuck as the servant in this story. I have learned new things about how to honor my call in the land of Zoom: offering retreats, seminars, and other things. And yet, I realize that I have been holding back, too. I didn’t really know the extent of my reluctance until the surge of energy which came from voting.
Now I want to explore new possibilities with the gifts I have been given. Let us all encourage the God-given gifts of others and, together, enter more fully into the joy of the master.
–Ann Dean, Dayspring Church
Reflection Questions
- Have you been holding back, even burying, any gift?
- What spiritual practice gives strengthens your courage?
- What new possibilities for your gifts do you see?
