The pastor of our church delivered an
inspirational sermon about the talents God has given to each of us. He explained that a talent was a valuable
coin in Roman times. Some people had
many talents, others only a few. Yet we
each are held responsible to use our talents wisely. After the sermon,
collection plates were passed throughout the congregation, but not to collect
money. The plates were filled with new $20 bills, and the pastor invited us to
take as many as we would like. No
receipts required. We were told to
invest the talents (the $20 bills) any way we wanted, and return the proceeds
within sixty days to reduce the church's mortgage.

At the age of 10, the dragon of
self-doubt told me that the pastor did not mean me. Then my Dad whispered in my ear: "Take one and do the best you can with it." I was scared as I took the money from the
plate. I had never had a $20 bill before,
and did not have a clue what to do with it.
That $20 bill was an awesome I-can-do-it lesson. After a week of painful indecision, I bought two
hundred magazines wholesale, and sold them door-to-door for 25¢ each.

I couldn’t pronounce magazine, and
some people laughed at my mispronunciation. But I ignored my embarrassment, sold all of
the magazines and earned $50. More than
doubling the $20 talent given to me. The
overall result was amazing too. The church distributed $10,000 in $20 bills and
received nearly $50,000 back, enough to pay the $40,000 mortgage and make
improvements. I learned personal power
from my $20 bill. The self doubts dragon
is often the only obstacle in the way of our personal and professional
success. It may seem easier to accept
mediocrity and avoid the embarrassment of failing. But exhilaration and joy are only found when
we conquer the obstacles on the road to our success.