My thoughts lately have surrounded the servant not discussed in the text, who was given some number of talents and lost his master's stake outright. As I approach 50, it is painfully obvious that I've made some pretty bad investments and some stupid decisions, in hindsight at least, over the past half a century.
But it seems that there is an inherent disconnect between one's choices and the outcome those choices generate. There are no guarantees in life and bad things happen to good people every day. The converse is also woefully true. So the obvious wisdom of the parable, that success equates to good and faithful but failure equates to wicked and lazy, is bogus.
The sin of the one who buried his master's talent so it could be returned safely is in not making choices at all...not doing anything in fear of doing it wrong.
So what about the choices and decisions I've made and the lack of quantifiable results? Shouldn't good choices lead to positive outcomes just as good trees bear good fruit?
So here are my conclusions as I survey the landscape of my first 50 years as a human being.
One. Good decisions are good and bad decisions are bad regardless of the outcome. To understand choices in any other context is self defeating as the outcome is unknown at the time the choice is made. If we only make choices when the outcome is known in advance, we're not really making choices at all. We are burying our talents of faith, imagination, inspiration and creativity in the soil of fear and doubt. The parable defines this as wicked and lazy.
Two. Life is about taking risk. We reach out in faith and passion to attain that which does not exist and create that which is good. The whole universe is geared to provide that opportunity for us and allow the choices to play out. Almost any decision can lead to more than one outcome. If the one that develops is not the one we envisioned, we learn and grow.
Three. There is a built in margin of error. The process of creation through imagination and passion is hard. We're allowed to make mistakes. In my experience, over time the universe even helps mitigate those mistakes and compensates for the damage or failure they cause.
Four. It is OK to be disappointed in the outcome without being ashamed of the decision. We (or at least I) tend to tie those two reactions together. This is inappropriate and self destructive. I have made many decisions that didn't produce the outcome I wanted or expected. But I have actually made very few decisions that I am ashamed of.
Five. Other people are entitled to the same margin of error afforded to us. We need to quit judging, hating and condemning each other. The practice of stoning people should have ended when Christ said, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." We need to learn to keep our rocks in our pockets - or just put them down. They serve no good purpose. (This is easy to say and hard to do, I know. But this post is about choices. This is a choice.)
Six. Overall, the process works. We need to keep trying, keep creating, keep learning and keep making choices that we believe will make life on earth better. We need to understand that the process of doing so is something we can believe in and hope in whether the outcome of any certain decision says so or not. In the parable, the master is the judge, not the outcome.
We need to understand that one good decision can change the rest of our lives. We need to be prepared, whether we're 50 or not, to make that decision when the opportunity presents itself. We need to do so with enthusiasm and faith, always anticipating the outcome that says, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
And, for now, I'm done with this parable and I'm one step closer to being ready to be 50.