“So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive”
(Mt 25:13, The Message).
Our first discussions of the day tend to include questions like this, “who is leading, Trump or Biden?” or, “did you hear Myeni at the Zondo Commission?”, or “are you ready for your exam?”. (If you have a teenager in Matric, though, you’ve learned not to say anything about exams!)
What we talk about (and what we don’t want to talk about) reflects our wishes and worries, hopes and fears. This got me thinking of C.S. Lewis’s wise counsel:
“The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.”[1]
It’s easy to fret over what we cannot control. But then we miss what God (who is in control) is doing around us and in us. If we follow Lewis’s advice we will “stay alert” just as Jesus commands in this Sunday’s Gospel reading (Mt 25:1-13).
God Bless,
Sean
[1] . Lewis, C. (2002) Mere Christianity, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition. London: Harper Collins, p. 198