Using Our Talents

We were in our Thursday evening church service and Edgar was preaching on the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. At one point he said that he had an illustration to demonstrate what it must have felt like to be given talents and to be commissioned to use them. He proceeded to pull the kids up and put them in teams. Each team was a group of children around the same age with an adult to help guide them. They were given pesos and an assignment to use the money in the following week in a way that would be evangelistic and would show Christ's love to others. The next week at church each team would need to give an account of how they used the money. I thought to myself how interesting it would be to see what the kids came up with. I wondered if they would take it seriously and what they would be able to do with such small amounts of money. 

The next week we all came together to hear what each team had been up to during the week. Each group came up and told stories about how they had used their money and the ways they had seen God work. Some took bread to the nearest hospital, others bought candy to give out at a local park, one team showed a movie and made a meal for a very poor nearby village (Yagul), some of the children took tracts to their teachers at school and others bought a Bible to give to a teenage mom.

The story which most touched me was a team who decided to take advantage of Valentine's Day (Dia de Amor y Amistad here in Mexico).They each bought a gift to give to someone at their school. One of our girls knew who she should give her gift to - the student that was the most difficult for her to get along with. This student has made it clear that she doesn't like her and has made life difficult for her at school. Through tears she told us about going to this student, giving her the gift, and telling her of God's love. This took so much courage from our teenage girl and she was deeply touched by the reaction of the student receiving the gift. This student began to cry and hugged our girl.

Through this whole project I was struck by the power of our every day lives. No one saw God work in miraculous or huge ways, but everyone saw God work. We have been given talents and we are responsible to use them. Often this means being faithful in the small things that God has called us to today. And often this means stepping out in courage to do the things we are uncomfortable with knowing that god has the desire to act.  

Making Dinner in Yagul

Women at Yagul

We are grateful to all who contribute to this ongoing work in and around our Mission in Oaxaca.