March 22, 2025, 4am MDT
I love basketball. As long as I can remember, I love it. I love playing it. I love to see it. I tried to coach it (successfully). And for many American basketball fans, March is an incredible basketball month with the best college and university fielding teams taking part in the national championships.
Teams practice together for several months before the regular season begins. Their performances in the regular season will prepare them for the conference tournament. Their performance in conference tournaments will affect if they are selected to play in the National Championship tournament. And at the highest level in both male and female basketball, half of the teams who choose to play in that tournament, go home after they play a single game.
After a year of practice, coaching, training, preparation, planning, planning, visualizing, building trust, or any other way, your team will play 40 minutes.
There is no team that you don’t want to lose. But I’ve always been shorter and I’ve always been impressed by the team that has a positive view of their outcome. I love hearing from teams who were willing to make it as much as they did.
In mortality, we are not participating in this same type of tournament. We are not fighting to beat each other to become our Heavenly Father’s favorite or the best child. The exact opposite is true, but he wants us to love each other.
As parents, my wife and I are trying to help prepare for the spiritual enemies our children face every day. And we wait with eager anticipation when we know we will send them out to face the various challenges of life bravely.
No matter what we prepare to do together, we are never guaranteed to face life challenges. But we are doing our best in the situation soon, so we can learn how to better face similar challenges in the future.
In the parable of the Savior’s Talent (see Matthew 25:14-30), I read that each of the three servants gave each five talents, two talents, and one talent, depending on their abilities. The fact that the Bible says that servants received a certain amount based on their abilities suggests that they knew how to prepare and work. The first two both went to work and doubled the amount they received first. The only piece the third servant did was dig a hole to hide his single talent.
On the day of calculation for these servants, their ultimate results were not based on the raw sum of the talent they acquired. The first two servants acquired different amounts of talent, but received the same praise from their Lord.
“You were faithful to some things. I will rule over your ruler over many things. You will enter into the joy of your Lord,” he tells each of the first two servants.
But the third did not have any additional things to return to his lord to add to the one talent he was given. He hadn’t even tried it. He dug holes, dropped his talents and waited for him to remove the talents that the Lord’s Return had feared he would lose in the first place.
What did the servant think of His reaction when He returned his talent? Did he also expect any praise for not losing what he was given? That wasn’t what happened.
“You are an evil and lazy servant” is not a referral line for any kind of rewards I receive. And have I been taken away from the small trust I was given, another trust I was assigned? That’s not the way I want things either.
Whatever my species in the tournament line, regardless of the number of talents that people around me are given, I have to do my best with what I have been given.
Our Heavenly Father blessed us with the power and covenant of the Savior, the Holy Spirit, the Prophets, the Apostles, the Bible and the Priesthood. It’s a strong lineup of talents to be given.
We all hope to use those talents to build and receive eternal rewards from God who promises to “be rich in all who are given it.”
– John Ryan Jensen is the editor of Church News.
