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Connections. . .
"The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. "Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour." Matthew 25:1-13
86,400 seconds
Imagine that every day your bank credits your account with $86,400. The money is yours to do with whatever you want. The only catch is that the balance does not carry over to the next day. Whatever money you don't spend is written off as lost. Every evening, whatever is left is deleted off your account and your account reads "0.00" until the next morning, when your account is again credited with $86,400.
So, what do you do? Withdraw every cent everyday, of course, and use it. Before long, you would discover more and more wonderful and creative things to do with your wealth.
Now back to reality.
Every day, we are given 86,400 seconds. God invests 86,400 seconds in us. Every night, God writes off as lost whatever of this time we have not used well or have wasted. In the bank of time, there are no balances, no overdrafts. Each day a new account is opened for us; each night what remains is written off, lost, gone forever. If we fail to make use of the day's deposit, the loss is ours. There is no drawing against tomorrow; time cannot be saved for a rainy day.
Every day's 86,400 seconds has to be invested wisely in commodities that hold their value from day to day, quarter to quarter, year to year, and beyond -- values like justice, compassion, forgiveness, love.
So many possibilities. So little time.
[Adapted from The Anglican Digest, Lent 1999.]
CONNECTION: The parable of the ten bridesmaids confronts us with the precious brevity of this life we are given. There is so much we want to do with our lives; but the many demands on our time to make a living derail us from making a life, a life that is centered in the love of family and friends, and an awareness of God's living presence and a yearning for contributing to the greater good of all. Christ warns us not to fall into the trap of the five "foolish" bridesmaids who squander their time before the bridegroom's arrival, but to embrace the wisdom of the five "wise" bridesmaids, trimming our "lamps" with the "oil" of compassion, generosity and forgiveness in the precious time we have until his coming.
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