The first character challenge is to be a good STEWARD. At its most basic definition, being a good steward means faithfully developing and using your gifts, talents and resources within the amount of time on this planet you have been given. You do this by applying past knowledge to new situations, managing your impulsivity, and by fostering a sense of responsibility to your family, school, parish, and civic community. Through being a good steward, leadership traits such as initiative and self-discipline become habits of mind because “we are what we repeatedly do.”
To use a bit of storytelling to learn more about stewardship, a familiar biblical story called as the “Parable of the Talents”, (Matthew 25:14–30) tells the story of a wealthy land-owner who was leaving on vacation, but before leaving, decided to leave his estate in the hands of his servants. In so doing, the land-owner did not leave an equal amount of “talents” (currency) to each man, but instead left an amount based upon each man’s ability. One man received five talents, the second had received two, and the third received only one. While it may seem unfair that the land-owner did not distribute talents equally among the servants, we don’t have to look too closely to see that sometimes, this is just the way things are. If we examine the use of the word “talents” in today’s vernacular and think of it as a form of natural skill, we know that some people have gifts that are publicly celebrated, whereas others have gifts that are quiet and unseen. All of us have talents bestowed upon us that until acted upon, merely represent the potential of experiencing our actual self.
That was the case for the men in the “Parable of the Talents.” Two of the men took their talents, utilized their innovation and returned more than what they were given. The third man buried his talent in the desert and merely returned exactly what had been originally given to him. As the story goes, the third man was thrown off the land for being lazy and not using his talents. Now, being a biblical story, much interpretation can be made about which man was most honorable with the talents he was given, but for me, the biggest takeaway from this story is that the size of the gift is not the important variable. The variable that matters is what each of us do with what we have been given. Rather than concern ourselves with things outside of our control, we should be concerned with what you did with your talents. Expand your potential. Take risks. Remember, the third servant was not judged for doing bad things; he was judged for doing nothing. He did not lie or cheat or steal; he simply sat on his hands.
For some reason, we have gotten away from the idea that being lazy is not all that bad.
I disagree.
Sloth is evil. Our lives should not merely be concerned with self-preservation and self-promotion. Instead, we should work every moment to enhance the livelihood of everyone within our circle.
We each have been allotted a certain number of trips around the sun. Consider for a moment that everyone on earth has the same amount of time in every day.
We all have exactly 24 hours in each day, 168 hours in each week, 525,600 minutes in each year.
Some people take that time and build up their communities, strengthen their relationships with others, develop their talents into new skills and find ways to leave things better than they find them.
Some people watch a lot of Netflix.
“To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
or in other words, as one of my all time favorite bands, Aerosmith said, “Life’s a journey, not a destination”
#ucandewitt 