This morning at church, the message was on the “Parable of the Talents” from the book of Matthew.

If you’re unfamiliar with the story, Jesus relates of a master who gives one servant five “talents,” another two talents, and one servant only one talent.  The master then goes on a lengthy journey.  When he returns, the first servant has doubled the five talents…the second servant has doubled his two…but the third servant buried his sole talent, out of fear it might be lost.

Frankly, I had always assumed the purpose of the parable was telling us not to “bury our talents,” but to use them, instead.  Our minister, however, had an additional perspective.

His view of the story is the parable is to help us understand that in order to grow, we must take a risk.  The servants who doubled their talents were the ones who didn’t just play it safe.

As I sat down to write this…it made me think about the risk of being distinctive in the marketplace.  We’ve all heard about “the turtle that sticks its neck out can get it chopped off” type of story…and, we are so conditioned as children not to take risks – especially in today’s culture — we may assume that to hunker down and not draw any unnecessary attention to our efforts will keep us in the game.

But, when competitor’s products and services are now available even on the smartphones in your customer’s pockets, that’s not a viable business plan any more.

My grandmother always said, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”  I think that’s part of what Jesus was suggesting in His story, as well.

What will YOU risk this week…in order to become more distinctive?