Date: 7/1/2008
Author: Devin Pickard
Title: "Say Cheese!"
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.” (Matthew 25:14-18)
One of the greatest tragedies in any generation is that of wasted talent and ability. Isn't it a shame to see someone who has been blessed with a wagon full of talent just sit by in neutral and allow it to go to waste? It seems, very much like the song, that “God must have spent a little more time on them”, and yet they, like the one-talented man in the parable above, simply choose to squander God's handiwork in their own lives. There are some people who seem to ooze talent....they would make the 5 talented man look as un-talented as lint. And then there are others who have to work just a little bit harder to figure out what God intended for them to do best. And yet, regardless of which camp we find ourselves in, our Maker makes it very clear to us through His inspired Word that we are all created with talents, whether they be many or few. And of course, the last thing our Creator intended for us to do with these abilities was to put them in a Mason jar in the back yard somewhere....no, he installed them within us that we might put them to good use....not for our own applause or glory....but for His.
The July 2008 issue of The Tennessee Magazine (a publication of Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative) re-affirms what we have all known for a long time....the talented folks at the Fairfield Church of Christ are second to none. When I picked up a copy of the magazine for the first time, something about the cover looked very familiar to me....and for good reason....the model on the front page is our very own Emery Dotson. Not only that, but the one holding the camera that made the picture was Emery's mom, Amanda. Amanda's spring picture of Emery, entitled “Take Time to Stop and Smell the Flowers”, recently won MLEC's Shutterbug Showcase Springtime Photography Contest. Without a doubt, Amanda truly captured God's handiwork at its very best. If you didn't get a chance to see Emery in action, but sure to check out the picture in the foyer.
There are certainly countless other talented people that we could highlight if only there were enough room. I would have to ask Ms. Carolyn for her space on the inside to even begin bragging on Fairfield's finest....from photographers to gardeners....from seamstresses to quilters....from musicians to poets....from artists to vocalists....and the list could go on and on, though I think you get the picture (no pun intended). There are also those folks who have exhibited talents that at first glance would seem as no talent at all. I have in my memory from some time past an occasion when a handful of people from this church reached out to a stranger in a very difficult time of need. I recall some of God's best servants responding to the need of a hurting mother whose newborn child had passed away. I can remember seeing these same servants with shovels in hand dig a grave that would house the little casket of the child now gone to God. I can remember others standing by the side of this grieving mom as she listened to the eulogy of a son she was only able to know for a few brief hours. Some would say that it takes no talent to dig a hole or put an arm around someone who is hurting....but I would have to strongly disagree. You see, the talent is not always what is displayed on the outside. Sometimes, the greatest talent is that which comes from the heart. Now, don't you have a Mason jar to go dig up?
Go the extra mile – Devin