So I have really fallen off the wagon with blogging, and I have fallen off the wagon on many good things that I have been striving to do and make into habits that would better my life. I have almost stopped listening to audio books and of course have not been reading my scriptures.
There was something very interesting that I heard from the last audio book that I was listening to and that is the Matthew Effect. It comes from this verse in the Bible:
25 And I was aafraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo,there thou hast that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked andaslothful servant, thou knewest that I breap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with ausury.
28 Take therefore the atalent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be agiven, and he shall havebabundance: but from him that hath not shall be ctaken away even that which he hath.
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The way I understand this parable is not just that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer! But that those who use what they have to the best of their ability will be given more. If the person with only one talent did something with it then he would have received another, then with those two he would have received two more and so on. It stands to reason that the increase would grow at a geometric rate, doubling each time the talents were used(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth).
The month of December has been a really bad one for me and my family, I got my truck stuck in the ditch, I throw out my back really bad, then the wife and kids got sick, and only now near the end of the month is my back really on the mend and my wife is somewhat feeling better from the nasty flu that has been going around.
Now in this troublesome time my mind has constantly be dwelling on the Matthew Effect. I have been the slothful servant, while I was in good health and sound mind I had all these good things I could have been doing, but have neglected them thinking that I am too tired or my head is just not in it. So instead I watch TV, veg and sleep in as late as I possibly could before getting ready for work.
An interesting thought occurred repetitively in my mind. Oh how much more I could get done if it did not take me five minutes to get my shoes on! How much more could I get done if my wife was not sick so I didn’t have to do all the things that she does that I have taken for granted? I could write a blog post if I just felt a little better, I could work on my side business or read something good!
I was thinking that I would blog about this when I finally felt better…but wait, I neglected to write when I was in good health, why would the powers that be believe me when despite how I feel or the health that I may have, I still did not do the needful things and the things that would improve my character and my willpower?
I think and truly believe that I needed a month like this, that to become better than I am now I needed to suffer for a time to figure out that I am wasting so much of my time and energy…and to put it bluntly…that I am just plain lazy and apathetic!
Since I did not use what I had, even that was taken away.
Have you noticed the Matthew Effect (as I understand it) in your own life?
Hello, I hope you remember me. You commented on my blog several months ago, so I was just wondering how everything was here at the end of the year. Oh, and I just followed you.
With regards to the Matthew Effect, I think I agree with you in that as we use our talents, we will be given more. Or rather, we have the ability to use what we reaped to do more. But we are also human, and as humans we have a limit. Mind you, with the God’s spirit in us, we can overcome certain weaknesses, but we are, again, still human.
I do remember you, and I totally agree we do have limits, but I believe this refers to just not simply using our talents at all, maybe we only have enough energy to do the dishes, but we should do them! Not just say, “oh the whole house can’t be cleaned so I won’t do anything.” this is my problem and I am slowly but surely overcoming it.
Ah, I see. Well I hope you have a much better year this 2013! There will be challenges, but I’m sure you can do it! If you feel like being inspired, come visit my blog. It’s been somewhat revamped since last time
I will visit it tonight!
So true. Although we need a little down time to recharge I think there are activities that can recharge your batteries a lot better than the mindless activities of watching TV or playing video games. Reading scriptures can really help us recharge but we always see that activity as energy draining when really it’s the opposite.
True we do need to recharge, but you are on to something when saying that vegging is not recharging.