Developing talents and abilities

So you see, if you do not use and develop your talents and abilities, you will lose them altogether.  And you ought already to be making the most of yours while you are still at school.  No one ever regretted having worked hard at school, but plenty of people have regretted their stupidity in slacking at school.  And when you leave school you ought to think seriously about how you could develop your particular talents still further.

And lastly, when you go out to work, don’t think only of the pay you receive.  Take a pride in doing your work well, and you will find that as a result you will be far more contented and happy than the person whose interest is focused on the money and not on what he or she does to earn it.

SUMMARY

1. If we are able, the proper way of getting a living is to work for it, and whatever our work is it should be useful.

2. We should make the best use of the talents and abilities which God has given us.

3. Work brings happiness and contentment if, instead of thinking only of the pay, we take a pride in doing our job well.

References

1. Church of England (1662)The Book of Common Prayer.  A Catechism.  Available from: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/bcp/texts/catechism.html   (Accessed 20 August 2010) (Internet).

2. New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Anglicized Edition (1995) Oxford: Oxford University Press.