Like baking a cake with several ingredients

"Two cups of flower, 2 cups of sugar, 2 sticks of butter…" Measuring the perfect portions of each ingredient is critical to baking the perfect cake. Likewise, it is our responsibility to use wisely our God given gifts of time, talent and treasure in our life to be a good and faithful steward. 
Not everyone received the same gifts and talents. How are we all called to stewardship equally? Stewardship looks different for each of us because God made every single one of us unique. He blessed each of us with the perfect gifts and talents we need to work together to fulfill His purpose in our lives. We are only called to share proportionate to our gifts. 
“As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace”  (1 Peter 4:10).
We would not attempt to bake a cake with only one ingredient; each ingredient serves a different purpose and they are all equally important to the finished product. There are countless cake recipes and each require different ingredients. 
The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) is an excellent example of stewardship. This parable teaches us that God will give us all we need to do His will. God only asks of us what we can accomplish and it is our responsibility to have the confidence to uncover these talents. Much like the master in the Parable of the Talents expected his servants to do more than complacently store the gift entrusted to them, so God expects us to generate a return by using our gifts and talents to serve others and do His will in our lives. 
Stewardship is like baking a cake … measure each ingredient and bake them into a delicious cake. The three servants in the Parable of the Talents were asked to account for the talents they were given and rewarded for fair returns. In the end, we all want to hear our Heavenly Father say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
­­— Shannon Roh is the Executive Director of the Office of Development and Stewardship for the Archdiocese of Mobile.