Processing with friends is so helpful, so necessary. This specific conversation was one of those. I was explaining to my friend my current condition-brain swarmed with a constant swirl of details. Things were busy! And yet I wasn't ready or maybe I felt I couldn't drop any of those plates I was spinning.
Then she wisely responded after I shared, "Its about your oil. Do you have oil?" I knew what she was referring to, but it wasn't until later it sunk in. She was making a reference to those 10 virgins in The Gospel of Matthew 25:1-13
Five were wise.
Only five. That means half. Sadly, only half of these virgins understood their eternal identity and calling.
As it says in another version, they were sensible. That means they had common sense. They had enough sense to know this world wasn't going to last much longer and they were wisely preparing to meet their Bridegroom in the moment when all eternity brilliantly and completely eclipses earth. Their hearts and minds were set on the most epic event in all of history that will culminate with the most elaborate wedding celebration ever imagined. HGTV wedding shows can't even come close. The royal weddings of earthly kings wedding their earthly queens are only a dim shadow of this celebration that is to come. These virgins, their hearts ached, longed to meet the only man who could truly meet all their needs and expectations-The King of Kings.
I had to ask myself, have I lost my oil? In all the cords pulling me and my efforts into good things-financial security, my kids' activities, peoples' expectations on me, deadlines and obligations-had I lost sight of what I was actually supposed to be preparing for? Had I lost that ache, that longing for The King of Kings? Was I being sensible? Truly sensible according to the Bible's definition?
Only five were wise. Only five. Only half. The others were considered foolish. Gasp! That word. But they were doing seemingly sensible things, for goodness sake!
Does it mean we completely forsake all the obligations and deadlines and plates we are carrying? Maybe, at least for a moment. To me, it's at least worth drawing away for an hour or two to find out. But, I wonder if the true question that begs an answer, the true litmus test is:
"Do you have oil?
"Do you have oil?
