Few of us are engaged in undertakings that the world calls great. Our abilities may be required only in the most simple, everyday affairs; our niche in the human scheme is so inconspicuous that few consciously realize that we are filling it. But all have one supreme gift—the gift of spiritual understanding, which God gives to all His children. Each and every one has at least a spark of this understanding, and those who have accepted the teachings of Christian Science and are sincerely and honestly learning to practice them, are steadily gaining and proving their increasing understanding of God as the divine Principle of man's being. They are contributing to the fruitage of the great Cause of Christian Science, whose activities are destined to deliver all mankind from the belief in a life apart from God.
In the Master's much-loved parable of the talents, the slothful servant was rebuked because he failed to put his talent to use. Perhaps the servant was suffering from what today is called an inferiority complex. Or perhaps he was resentful because his fellow servants had so much more to start with than he had. And there is no doubt, from his reply to his master, that there was a large element of fear and ingratitude in his thought. And so he buried his talent, and when called to account by his lord and master he had to admit that he had no increase to offer.
The same false suggestions may come to mortals today, arguing through personal sense, My abilities or opportunities are so limited that there is no use trying; or, If I had as much money or as good a job as So-and-so I could be good too. Mortal mind may change the outward form of its arguments to suit the customs and conditions of the times, and may vary them to deceive the different types of human temperament; but its purpose is always the same—to beguile mortals into apathy, discouragement, or willful disobedience, and rob them of the blessings of added growth. Hence the necessity for recognizing that there is but the one infinite divine Mind, God.
