Doing Nothing

It would have been easy for Helen Keller to feel that life had no meaning. To become bitter and angry. Born a “normal” child, when she was just 19 months old, she became deaf and blind, as a result of an unknown illness.

As a child, she often was wild and unruly. But as the American Federation for the Blind describes, everything changed when Anne Sullivan became her teacher. “Anne believed that the key to reaching Helen was to teach her obedience and love.”

Anne taught Helen how to read and write in Braille, and to use the hand signals of a deaf-mute, which she could understand only by touch. Instead of giving up, Helen persevered, even becoming the first deaf-blind person to earn a college degree.

Considering her life, Helen once said, “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”

How easy it is to do nothing! For Helen Keller, or any of us. But, in God’s sight, this is not an option. We see this clearly from the story of the talents. Two servants were rewarded for investing what they had been given. But a third servant did nothing. Why? Because he was afraid.

This inaction angered his master, who called this servant “wicked and lazy.” And the money he had was taken away from him, and given to one who had shown initiative.

Each of us has been given talents by God. And it is up to us to decide how we respond. The Bible makes clear that He rewards those who use the resources they’ve been given—those who aren’t paralyzed with fear, but who invest what they have been given.