Looking Back to Move Forward

Once again, the previous year has placed significant challenges on everyone serving in our nation’s jails. Without question, the year 2020 has taught each one of us how to adapt and change in so many different ways and to resolve any conflict or unusual situation from a very different perspective.

As correctional professionals, we are accustomed to the need for change. However, the pandemic has taken this to a whole new level. Even if we haven’t uttered it ourselves, I am certain each one of us has heard the phrase “I’m ready to go back to normal” multiple times.

In his life, Jesus encountered many challenges to his ministry. After all, He came to change our relationship with God. That is, he arrived to teach us a new perspective and to provide us with a new living situation. And He promoted the art of reflection to encourage others to learn from the past and to look forward to the future. This reflection often came in the form of parables or stories.

Parable of the Rich Man and His Three Servants In Matthew 25:14–30, Jesus tells us a story about a wealthy man and his three servants. We can easily place God in the role as the wealthy man and us as one of the man’s three servants. In this parable, the three servants are entrusted with three different levels of worth, and they are instructed to take care of their gifts while their master goes on a journey. (See, God can look into each of his servants and know exactly how each would use their gift.)

One servant received five talents (a talent was believed to be worth 20 years of wages), another servant was given three talents, and the last was given one talent. The first two invested their talents. However, the third servant decided to hide his talent by burying them in the ground.

When their master returns home, he calls his servants to learn how they increased their talents. How they invested their talents would inform their future as a servant. The two servants who invested in their talents increased value of their gifts. However, the servant who chose not to invest his talent—who buried his talent—decreased the worth of his gift. It is not hard to guess the future of the third servant.

Which “Servant” Are You? The value in reflecting past events is that it prepares us for what God has in store for us in the future. Reviewing your experiences during the past year, what gifts did you receive and how did you “invest” them? Which “servant” were you?

In fact, the policies and procedures that allow us to efficiently operate our jails often call for us to “look back.” We are often required to evaluate the different situations we encountered when serving as a corrections officer. Oftentimes, this reflection brings to light the benefit of protection that God provides to each one of us. Perhaps your gift required you to perform in a significant use- of-force event or you were needed to assist with the prevention of an inmate’s death. Maybe the investment of your gift was to help someone go through addiction withdrawal, deliver a baby, or provide an intervention that helped an inmate reach a milestone. All of these scenarios are investments of your “talents.”

Looking back this past year will also decide how you invest your talents in the coming year. Not only inside the walls, but also in your personal life. As you review your talents in 2021, I encourage you to find and use the positive investments that occurred both professionally and personally. I suspect you will see the growth that each one of us experiences in our journey of life.

I pray that each one of you has a positive spiritual advisor who can help you to navigate the past and encourage you for the future.

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Pastor Shane Dotson, MS, CCE Chaplain American Jail Association