Tuesday – 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Luke 12: 35-38

Lighting the Lamps

Home Sweet Former Home

42 years ago, on October 24, 1983, Ginger and I moved into our Dakin Street home!  Built back in 1906, it certainly had its share of quirks and oddities.  In the beginning, it still had all its original windows.  For me, that meant that, at every change of season, I would have to go outside on a ladder (relax, this is not another ‘ladder’ story) and swap the full-length wooden screens with the full-length wooden storm windows.  Over the past few years, winter prep also included (with a lot of ‘server’ help) moving all our outdoor furniture and grill into the garage and taking down all the gazebo curtains for winter storage. It was a long and exhausting chore.  But it was necessary if we were to be fully prepared for winter in Chicago.

Thankfully (and sadly) with our move down here to Tennessee, those tasks have ended!  No more storm window swapping. No more ladders!  No more moving patio furniture!  The winter weather here in Heiskell allows me to even keep the grill out!  All I have to do is just store the patio umbrella and all the garden tools.  But, considering today’s Gospel reading, it also means ‘lighting our lamps’.  The days are growing shorter, and the darkness deepens!  So, it’s time to turn the lights/lamps on earlier and earlier in the day! Preparations for winter may have changed but they are still necessary and important.

In either case, preparation is the key.  And that is what Jesus is addressing in today’s Gospel – be prepared!  Be prepared for the Kingdom, for the Master.  You can’t just sit around, and pretend winter isn’t coming!  You can’t just ignore the signs and then suddenly rush around in a flurry of activity at the last minute when the storm hits! Jesus calls us to approach every day as a day of preparation. 

Jesus makes it very clear – this is work and it’s daily work.  Gird your loins!  That is not an expression most of us are familiar with but it’s very appropriate here.  Literally it means something like hiking up your pants, tightening your belt, rolling up your sleeves, and getting to work!  I keep getting this image of “buckle up, buttercup, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.” 

The days are getting darker; the nights are getting longer!  The Master is on His way!  Are you ready?  Are you prepared?

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