Work hard, Play hard, Pray hard

Luke 12:13-21

          One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me." 14 But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?" 15 And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; 17 and he thought to himself, `What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' 18 And he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But God said to him, `Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

           We are all keenly aware of how precious life is. I have spoken before of how little time we have to accomplish our goals here on earth and how we should seek the Lord while we have the time to do  so lest we meet a stranger at the pearly gates. This reading to me speaks of the time we have and the balance our lives need. We all know people whose lives have been cut short and we also know people who squandered what they have and have little left to live on the rest of their lives.

            By all accounts I am a very practical and frugal person, not that it was always the case.  I strive for balance in everything. My kids will joke about me advising them about not getting too carried away and "keep one foot in reality". It wasn't until my last year in seminary that I think I was able to bring my thoughts all together into one cohesive statement or motto.  

That is: Work hard, Play hard, Pray hard. That's my motto and I'm sticking to it.

          Save enough to plan for the future but spend enough to have fun and live joyfully now. Work hard but remember that I don't know of anyone who said on their deathbed, "I wish I had spent more time at the office". Then, make every moment a prayer of thanksgiving and celebration for what you have. Short of being called to live as a hermit monk, we all can pray and still accomplish the first two. In fact, I think we need that prayer to accomplish the other two in proper perspective.

           Work hard, Play hard, Pray hard