As a man on the precipice of full retirement, I have to wonder, will I have enough money and means to last the rest of my life? Practical questions abound including the merits ( or demerits? ) of collecting Social Security before my full retirement age of 66+ or 70? You get less money in SS if you start collecting earlier but much more if you wait. Should I wait for money and find out the 'very night that my life will be over?' There has always been a delicate balance played out in things wanted or needed; do now and damn the future? or wait and enjoy the rewards later. Will I be around to enjoy them?
Most people are planners of one sort or another. People who plan on the here after, their eternal reward. Their actions in this life are intended to insure there imperishable inheritance. There are others that plan scrupulously in this life. Every detail planned and carefully orchestrated. I think they are both wrong.
I have had enough personal medical scares, seen enough human horrors in the halls of hospitals and on the roads, I've seen people taken way too early in life to the agony of those left behind that thought they had years to spend together.
If this passage has any intent, it is to see that the time we are given, short or long, every moment, is graced and should not be taken for granted or wasted. That may mean a bit more of that delicate dance of spending now and planning for later simultaneously. I know that's how I think. I am convinced though that such planning is born of doubt about whether God will provide. Such planning also convinces us that we have to take a given path and that we should support that path to the detriment of everyone else. That means we will demean others and defend our own path as the one true path. I see way too much disrespect and nary a single acknowledgment that there are many paths and no one's particular path is the absolute right one. That is, save for that particular individual. Even then, it would have to be an amazingly aware and faithful person that knows what God's journey is for them. Life changes, the Potter may make you an urn when you though for sure you'd be a plate.
Our arrogance in planning is highlighted in this Sunday morning passage from Luke. It seems like a much better idea to live and love in the moment than to plan for a time or place we are not even guaranteed. God will be our judge, not any of us, certainly not ourselves and certainly not ourselves judging others. Do your best now, love your best now. Plan if you must but always know nothing is guaranteed, let no time be wasted.
For loving in the moment, I pray
Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then 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. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
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