Once a man wanted to go on a journey. He had a lot of money and didn’t want to just leave it alone. He called three of his servants before him. To the first servant he gave five talents, or pieces of money. To the second he gave two talents. To the third he gave one talent. After the master left, the servant with the five talents used them well, and made five more for his master. The servant with two talents also made two more. The one with the one talent did not use the money well. He dug a hole and put it in the ground.

When the master returned, he called each servant before him. The first said, “Master, with the money you gave me, I made five more talents. Here are ten!” The master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” The second servant said, “Master, I, too, made more money with what you gave me. Here are four talents!” The master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” To the first two servants the master said, “Each of you can now be entrusted with even greater projects!” The third servant said, “Master, I know how much you care about your talents, so I dug a hole and buried mine. Here it is.”

The master said, “You worthless one! Why didn’t you at least put my money in a bank?” The master then gave the one talent to the servant who had ten.

Then Jesus said, “To those who have been given much, much will be added. Those who have little will lose what they have.”

1. In this story, Jesus talked about talents. What were talents in the story?

2. Today our money has a different name, and the word talent means something else. Do you know what it means?

3. Each of us has talents, or gifts. God wants us to share what we have with others. Some talents you have might be making someone feel better, being a good friend, or making someone laugh.

4. The Holy Spirit gives us many gifts. Some of them are joy, love, and kindness. How have you shared these with someone else?

5. When we are joyful, and we share our joy with a friend, how many people are joyful? When we have been kind to our friend, and they pass along kindness to another person, how many people are feeling kindness? God wants us to share what He has given to us.