In my files, there is a poem that describes well the strategy for life employed by the one talent servant.

There was a very cautious man
who never laughed or played.
He never risked, he never tried.
He never sang or prayed.

And when he passed away,
his insurance was denied.
For since he never really lived,
they claim he never died.

You cannot reach your full potential with your efforts crippled by caution.

Mark Twain once said, "Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there." The one talent servant in our lesson tonight sure could have used that common sense advice from Mark Twain. The one talent servant did not invest himself or his resources, and thus, he inherited what he had invested, which was nothing. The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon but that we wait so long to begin it.