In the 25th chapter of Matthew, in the Bible, Jesus is quoted telling a story about ten virgins waiting for their bridegrooms to come get them. Some of the virgins were prepared, with their lamps full of oil, and some of them hadn’t “topped off” their lamps so were running out of oil by the time the bridegrooms arrived. The point of the parable was that we are to be on watch to see the coming of Christ. We should always be prepared for His coming.
Being prepared seems to be a common theme of parables. I think of the Aesop fable about the grasshopper and the ant. The ant works hard all year to prepare for winter, thile the grasshopper parties hardy till he is caught unprepared for winter.
I think of my old boss and her admonition to keep my gas tank full instead of running on empty. She always said “it’s just as easy to put a couple of dollars in to top off the tank as it is to put a couple of dollars in to keep from running out” of gas. I’ve tried to live by that admonition, too. In a way it makes me think of having my lamp filled with oil, prepared.
COVID found a lot of us unprepared for empty grocery shelves. First it was toilet paper, then paper toweling, then ramen noodles, then flour, then meat. Since then, we’ve started building up a pantry, “just in case.” We’ve tried to be prepared.
MDT/Diana Bowden Moore
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