There is a story of the thirty-eight-year-old scrubwoman who would go to the movies and sigh, “If only I had her looks.” She would listen to a singer and moan, “If only I had her voice.” Then one day someone gave her a copy of the book, The Magic of Believing.
She stopped comparing herself with actresses and singers. She stopped crying about what she didn’t have and started concentrating on what she did have. She took inventory of herself and remembered that in high school she had had a reputation for being the funniest girl around.
She began to turn her liabilities into assets. When she was at the top of her career, Phyllis Diller made over $1 million a year. In the 1960’s that was a great deal of money. She wasn’t good-looking and she had a scratchy voice, but she could make people laugh.
Well, maybe God is saying something like that to us through today’s parable of the talents. Maybe when we complain that we wish that we had more, if only we were like someone other than ourselves, if only…
He says to us:
“Use the gifts I have given you!”
Stop crying about what you do not have and start concentrating on what you do have. Use the gifts that God has given you.
- Submitted by Fr. Joseph Dovari