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The Commission on Stewardship

Time and Talent

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Reflection on Stewardship
of Time and Talent

Giving of Time and Talent

God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate
in God's Spirit. God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful: wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation, distinguishing between spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues. All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

I Corinthians 12: 4-11

Time

The Stewardship of time can be broken down into three realizations and they are the Time that we have on this earth, the amount of Time we give freely to do God’s work and the Spirituality of the present moment. Let us look at each of these and how they affect our lives.

The Time that we have on this earth - Our lifetime – We all have different amounts of Time to live on this earth. We are called by God to use this time to the best of our ability. We don’t know precisely the amount of years (Time) we will live but we do know that we have 24 hours in a day and we are called to use all of this time effectively. So, let’s start by breaking down the day into segments.

About 1/3 of our Time is used in sleeping. This time is used to regenerate our bodies and our minds. Useful sleeping time is put forward as a necessary ingredient to a full and productive life. How do we put this Time to good use? Prayer and meditation prior to sleep is a sure way of opening a channel to God. This channel opens our heart and soul to the practice of surrendering ourselves to God’s will. It is during this Time that God’s will for us begins to take shape. It is in this time that perfect faith can occur without interruption. It is this quiet time with our maker that a healing takes place in body and soul. So, prayer and meditation prior to sleep opens us up to living a Spiritual life through the Stewardship of Time.

Another 1/3 of our day is used at work. Many of us in this day and age work 8 hours a day. Some of us have second jobs, others work overtime and still others work at their primary careers seven days a week. Let us use the second 1/3 of our day at work. Whether it is actual time at work or traveling to and from work. As Stewards of Time we are called to use this work time for the betterment of the people that we come in contact within our place of employment and/or our work environment. We are also called to be productive at work and that means doing the best that we can as an employee to merit the wage paid to us. As an employer we must seek out our best employees and pay them a just wage, and help others to grow in their position. Travel to and from work is another good time for prayer and meditation.

The final 1/3 of our day is used at home and in our avocations. This is where the first 2/3 of our time leads. This is where the Spirituality of the present moment comes into play. This is the time that the Stewardship of all of our time comes together. How do we use this time productively? This is the time that practical relationships with our family, our friends, our associates and our Church come to the forefront. This is the moment that, if we allow God into our lives, He transcends us, ever so slightly, into another plane of being. That plane is oneness with God through contact with other human beings. Reaching out to another is the essence of the second greatest commandment "to love our neighbor as we love ourselves." The selfless caring for another human being is Stewardship, and that is a faithful Disciple’s response.

Talent

In the parable of the Talents the Master of the house gave different talents to each servant. Those talents were gifts from God. The first two servants used those talents wisely and made them grow. The Master was pleased and gave them more talents. The third servant hoarded his talents and did not use them, nor did he make them grow, so they were taken away from him. The lesson is clear. Use your talents or lose them.

Each of us has varied talents. As an example "The ability to smile" is a talent. If that smile is hoarded and not used, that ability will be taken away. When you smile the inner essence of your soul is visible to others. That ability to smile through whatever comes your way will help others learn to cope with the trials in their life. To share that smile with another human being is being a good steward of the smile talent that was freely given to us by God. A smile can be used in many ways. A smile can show love, it can show pleasure, it can show agreement, it can show caring, but most of all it can show the compassion of God.

There are many talents that we possess. The stewardship of talent calls us to search out those talents, nurture them, and help them to grow, and then share them with other human beings. Our first and greatest commandment is to "To love our God with our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole mind." We do that by using our God given talents for the benefit of others, and doing that brings us directly to our second greatest commandment, "To love our neighbor, as we love ourselves."

Source <http://www.dioceseofbrooklyn.org/about/development/dev_timeTalent.html>