There is a story in the Bible about ten women waiting for the bridegroom to show at a wedding. It was the custom of that day for guests to wait outside for the groom to show. All ten women had brought their oil lamps with them but only ten had brought extra oil. The five who didn’t have the extra oil ran out and asked the others to share theirs but they replied that they could not.
My head has always understood this story. If the five shared their oil they would also run short and be caught unprepared when the bridegroom came. I understood that the oil represented our faith and knowledge. The story tells us that some of us will be prepared for the groom’s coming and some of us will not.
In my young adult days, this story was a point of discussion on a number of occasions with some good friends. We tossed our ideas around like a ball. We always came out of these discussions feeling like we truly understood the concept of this story. And we did- in our heads. It has taken quite awhile for our hearts to finally get it.
Growth, learning, maturing, whatever you want to call our life journey, is a process that takes time and many lessons. Learning is like an ogre -it has many layers. And it is IMPOSSIBLE to share those many layers of learning with someone else in a few moments of time.
How can you impart everything you’ve learned about parenting to a new mother and father in a few moments? How can a couple married for 60 years teach everything they’ve learned about marriage to a young newly wed couple? How does an expert electrician, carpenter, plumber, etc. train someone new to the profession to take over his job in one day? It simply can’t be done!
The student must be ready to learn, he must be prepared, he must be willing but even if he is all these things there are some things that can only be experienced to be learned. It’s impossible to tell first time parents how much this baby will change their lives. It’s impossible to tell them how much they will love this unknown child before it is born. But they will understand after.
I know a young man who has been highly trained to be a sniper in the Army. He has had countless hours of teaching. He has been declared an expert marksman. But he has not had to kill anyone yet. No amount of training can fully prepare him for how he will feel when that time comes.
Life is our training field- we can not at the end of it, borrow someone else’s oil. It is up to each one of us to collect our own oil by making the most of our experiences here. And I really don’t think that pointing our fingers at someone else while we say, “They didn’t share!!” is going to cut it, do you?
That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
My head has always understood this story. If the five shared their oil they would also run short and be caught unprepared when the bridegroom came. I understood that the oil represented our faith and knowledge. The story tells us that some of us will be prepared for the groom’s coming and some of us will not.
In my young adult days, this story was a point of discussion on a number of occasions with some good friends. We tossed our ideas around like a ball. We always came out of these discussions feeling like we truly understood the concept of this story. And we did- in our heads. It has taken quite awhile for our hearts to finally get it.
Growth, learning, maturing, whatever you want to call our life journey, is a process that takes time and many lessons. Learning is like an ogre -it has many layers. And it is IMPOSSIBLE to share those many layers of learning with someone else in a few moments of time.
How can you impart everything you’ve learned about parenting to a new mother and father in a few moments? How can a couple married for 60 years teach everything they’ve learned about marriage to a young newly wed couple? How does an expert electrician, carpenter, plumber, etc. train someone new to the profession to take over his job in one day? It simply can’t be done!
The student must be ready to learn, he must be prepared, he must be willing but even if he is all these things there are some things that can only be experienced to be learned. It’s impossible to tell first time parents how much this baby will change their lives. It’s impossible to tell them how much they will love this unknown child before it is born. But they will understand after.
I know a young man who has been highly trained to be a sniper in the Army. He has had countless hours of teaching. He has been declared an expert marksman. But he has not had to kill anyone yet. No amount of training can fully prepare him for how he will feel when that time comes.
Life is our training field- we can not at the end of it, borrow someone else’s oil. It is up to each one of us to collect our own oil by making the most of our experiences here. And I really don’t think that pointing our fingers at someone else while we say, “They didn’t share!!” is going to cut it, do you?
That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
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