Quality Work

Logs vs Sparks

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ — Jesus. Bible, Matthew 25: 14-30

God’s a fan of risky investments.

Life is meant to be lived.

I’ve said this before but, every single time, without exception, that Jesus tells a parable where somebody saves their money… that person goes to Hell.

Makes you think twice about that 401(k) maybe. I dunno. I don’t have one.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence though that in Christ’s time money was measured in “talents” and today, in English, talents refer to each of our various inborn gifts and abilities. I mean… it is a coincidence I guess. But, I don’t think it’s one without meaning. You’re here, on Earth, blessed with a mind and a body and air in your lungs and there are many various things that you’re good at.

And what are you using them for?

More to the point, what are you supposed to be using them for?

Personally I think that most of us, if we’re honest with ourselves, sorta know why we were put here. We know what our job is. Our role. We have gifts and abilities, things that make us unique and different and which can be of use to The World, and we are all of us born with dreams and fantasies of using those gifts in some noble and beautiful way.

And yet…

Most of us don’t.

Most of us don’t use them.

Most of us bury our talents in a hole in the ground.

Why?

Well for starters, probably in most cases our specific gifts aren’t going to make very much money. That’s true. At least, you know, if you use them for good things. The same gifts of speech and rhetoric that might make somebody a good therapist could just as easily be used to be a shady lawyer. Unfortunately, of the two options, the one most likely to help people isn’t the one most likely to get you rich. Similarly, an engineer can make a decent living designing motors for Toyota. Sure. He’ll make a hell of a lot more building bombs for Raytheon though. Just a fact. In terms of dollars, doing the right thing simply doesn’t pay.

Beyond that though, I suspect a lot of us are held back from using our talents not so much because of finances but because we fear they won’t really make a difference. In the age of the internet, where companies explode overnight and go from startups to global juggernauts in a weekend and viral videos get watched and shared millions of times… it can be difficult to imagine that our modest, mostly unnoticed contributions really matter. You know, maybe you’re an older woman with a lot of wisdom to share, and you decide to fire up your computer one day in hopes of helping younger people avoid the same pitfalls you ran into. You take your time, pour your heart and soul into a video…

And then it gets ten views.

One like.

And feeling a little dejected you then swap over to Instagram and see a girl showing off her boobs for five million people and a golf-skirt sponsorship.

So why bother?

I won’t lie to you and tell you that it’s easy.

The world likes cheap stuff. That’s just the way of it. Unfortunately, because our culture defines “success” almost purely in terms of fame and money, we’re prone to thinking that popularity and quality go hand-in-hand. “Oh, this song has one million downloads, it must be good,” or, “This company sells ten thousand shoes a day, they must be the standard.” That kind of thing. It’s odd that we should think that though because even a moment’s consideration shows such to be ridiculous. I mean, who sells more food in a day, Nabisco or a Michelin Five-Star Restaurant? And yet the one is gourmet and the other, at least to me, is cheap crap. Which artist is more likely to be recognized on a public bus? Take a guess. Mozart or Cardi B? No, the truth of the matter is that quality and popularity seldom actually go together. Not all that glitters is gold and the true riches of this world are often passed over.

I’m aware of course that this could be construed as “cope”. As a way for me (or others) to console ourselves that our unpopular and oft ignored efforts (or, in my case, my relatively unpopular and oft ignored blog) are actually the good stuff and the world is simply too dumb to see it. Sure. But I honestly don’t think that’s what I’m doing. Rather, I’m trying to impress upon you that just because people don’t seem to notice what you do…

That doesn’t mean it’s not good. And it certainly doesn’t mean it’s not important.

If you have a gift you feel the need to share with the world, share it. Share it and don’t worry about the outcome. Maybe you’ll go viral and be the next big thing, yeah. Maybe you’ll be the guy who puts his truth out into the world and gets back that big return like what happened in the parable. Sure.

But odds are you won’t.

Odds are, externally, to the eyes of The World, the return on the investment of your talents will be small.

Use them anyway.

That’s why God gave them to you. That’s part of your purpose.

I think often about this in terms of a campfire. You know, sitting around it at night, some kid throws a bunch of pine needles or other kindling on the flames and WHOOSH!!!! A flare. Sparks! Everybody jumps back with an “Oooooo…” and shields their eyes from the light. The kids laugh.

But that kind of fire’s not what keeps you warm.

Sparks. Flares of cheap crap you find on the ground… over in an instant. Burns bright for a second and then gone. Fickle as fame. The real stuff… the stuff that keeps out the cold and keeps you alive… the logs…

Well, they don’t burn spectacularly. They burn slow, and hot, and long and they give everyone what they need to cook their meals and warm their beds.

And they do so even if nobody ever says “Oooooo.”

That, in my opinion, is the work of Love. The nourishing work that you do and pour your heart into because you know you must and because you know it’s worth it even if you only help one person.

Go do your work my friends.

Risk it.

Go do what you were made to do.