Article March 1, 1941 Issue

Developing Our Talents

[Written Especially for Young People]

NORA P. DARLING

WHEN young people first enter the business or professional world, they are sometimes not able at once to secure a position in the work for which they have been trained. When a situation of this kind arises, it is very easy, unless one is on guard, to let in thoughts of discouragement and dissatisfaction, which in turn would cause restlessness and uncertainty. In trying to decide what is the right thing to do one may lose valuable time and get nowhere.

As one realizes, however, that all honest work is God's work; as he strives to know more clearly each day tht man is in his right place, doing the work God wants him to do, he will rise above discouragement and begin to see his way more plainly. God does not give us talents and then deprive us of the opportunity to use them. Because man is the image and likeness of God and expresses God in all his ways, it is God who works in him, "both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Since this is true, we may be confident that we shall be shown our right place.

Frequently in her writings, our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, speaks of the right use of talent, and of the necessity of faithfulness in the performance of whatever work we are called upon to do. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she says (p. 323), "If 'faithful over a few things,' we shall be made rulers over many; but the one unused talent decays and is lost." Perhaps the work we are doing may not be exactly of our own choosing; it may be one of the "few things" over which we must prove ourselves faithful, after which we shall be found worthy to be made rulers over the work for which we feel we are fitted. Each experience is an opportunity to develop the qualities of patience and perseverance, and these will lead us to higher work.

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