Risks...................................

    In the parable of the talents, the three servants are called to render an account of how they used the gifts entrusted to them.  The first two used their talents boldly and resourcefully.  The third, who prudently wraps his money and buries it, typifies the Christian who deposits his faith in an hermetic container and seals the lid shut.  He or she limps through life on childhood memories of Sunday school and resolutely refuses the challenge of growth and spiritual maturity.  Unwilling to take risks, this person loses the talent entrusted to him or her.  'The master wanted his servants to take risks.  He wanted them to gamble with his money.'

-Brennan Manning,  The Ragamuffin Gospel