We have a new curate at church, and it was his first service with us today. He spoke to us about the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and he was excellent at doing so. I'd heard it many times before, but I'm not sure that I'd really listened. He did a good job of asking us questions (and thankfully not expecting answers there and then) about which of the servants we might be - am I using my talents and thereby letting them multiplying, or am I hiding them away like the servant who buried the coins in a hole in the ground? If so, why - is it about being afraid (of what)?
Good questions to ponder!
As our curate pointed out, the parable doesn't end on the happiest of notes, with the third servant being thrown out into the darkness, and so he redirected us to today's psalm, which is no.90, and in particular verse 12:
Teach us how short our life is,
so that we may become wise.
By the way, the words above are from the Good News edition. The Favourite Psalms book that Mum has lent me includes Psalm 90, and it uses the New International Edition words, which are:
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.