The Parable of the Talents

By Bill Ayres

---

​Put in charge of so much money 
I should have been happy. 
I should have taken a chance. 
But I didn’t buy flour and make bread 
There were already too many bakeries. 
To buy wool and use it to make tents, 
I would have had to learn to sew. 
Others bought and sold. 
They started banks. 
They opened stores. 
The smell of clay filled my nostrils 
as I dug the hole, 
making a place to hide the treasure, 
digging it deeper than it had to be, 
not knowing why, 
not realizing what I buried was myself.  

---

Bill Ayres teaches Sunday school to five year olds. They ask good questions.

---

Related work on Foreshadow:
Vocation as a Gift (Interview, 2022)