Out of Time

At that time 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 took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. Matthew 25:1-13 (NIV)

President’s Day is an appropriate day to feel like you are running out of time, I guess. I am sure George Washington felt like the newly formed nation he led was running out of time in its quest for independence. When he was holed up in a terrible winter storm at Valley Forge outside of Philadelphia in 1778, his men were dying from the cold and lack of food, when he and his men crossed the icy Delaware River at night, when he served as president and tried to consolidate the rebellious colonies under one government, I know he wished for more time. When Abraham Lincoln also tried to hold the nation together when the southern states declared their independence, while he saw first hand the casualties of war, as he agonized over the emancipation of the slaves, I know he also felt like he was running out of time. And today, so did I. I had so much I needed to do today. So much I wanted to do. The morning was to be spent waiting on the horse vet, but an emergency surgery took precedent over my horse’s routine exam. The only thing I had to do was take Lucy to her vet late in the afternoon. Then, I looked at the calendar and realized I was overdue for my allergy shot, so went to the doctor instead. I promised myself I would be home by Noon so I could do the things I wanted to do, felting and sewing as well the things I needed to do, pay bills, clean the house, do laundry and barn chores. Everything conspired against me. Traffic was terrible. The doctor’s office slow. The fabric store a madhouse. It was almost 1:00 before I finally made it home. At the fabric store, I found a pattern for a cute hat. I put aside some other projects to put it together. Three hours later, I still wasn’t done. What was labeled an easy project became complicated when I tried to piece some wool scraps together. I pushed my sewing machine to get it done before I had to leave for the vet. It was substantially done, enough for me to regret spending my afternoon on it. What looked cute on the package looks like something Queen Elizabeth might wear. Old, frumpy and strange. I met husband at the vet where he took Lucy to her appointment so I could run by the grocery store and get home to do barn chores and cook dinner. As it was, we didn’t eat supper until 7:30. And I didn’t get my projects I had planned to do done today. As usually, I just tried to do too much. I ran out of time. Jesus warned us that if we are not careful how we spend our lives, we will also run out of time. He will come again and no one knows the day or the hour. Be ready and waiting. Don’t run out of time!