“Time To Get Holy”

My mother used to toss around the quip “only the good die young”. I never really thought too much about its meaning or origin…. lately I have wondered more about what it could mean. In checking it out, it seems like it has more of a pagan background than Christian. (“Whom the gods love dies young; Best go first. (Greek historian Herodotus 445 B.C.).The most recent version, can be traced back to William Wordsworth’s ‘The Excursion’ and the lines, ‘The good die first, And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust burn/ Burn to the socket.”)  Hmmmmm…..so much for that enlightening explanation. 

Recently I was pondering a mish-mash of thoughts and sayings which I had never really come to grips with. I was mixing the above phrase (only the good die young) with the parable of the workers being paid the same wage for a one hour work day as for an 8 hour work day (Mt. 20:1-16). Left to themselves, each of these two parables are difficult to decipher; however, one may help explain the other. 

Hmmmmm, it looks like Socrates has decided to visit the BLOG. Okay, calm down and listen to this explanation. Say the Lord, in his mercy and kindness, allows the sinner more time (lives longer) to get his act together, i.e.  “only the good die young”. Okay, I get that thought, but what does this have to do with the workers in the vineyard ? Well, maybe the workers who have to work a full long day (or life) need the extra time to get their act together, while the more righteous (the good) only need to work a shorter time. 

I guess the reason this thought is even rolling around my head is because of the “onion”…. the trademark of the BLOG. I find myself continually getting convicted of my faults and sins as my life rolls along. It seem I need more time to get my act together… there’s always another layer of the onion to peal away and discard. I need more time.

Let me be the first to say that this is a very “discombobulated BLOG”. I don’t see Jack (Lewis) & J.R.R. (Tokien) bringing this up as a discussion topic at the “Eagle & Child” pub in Oxford, nor JP II and Benedict pondering it over a nice German beer. 

So for your 2014 Lenten exercise, feel free to give this topic a simple glance and drop kick it into the weeds. On the other hand, let’s thank God for every minute of our life which allows us time to respond to the Holy Spirit as the blessed hand of God purifies us and gets us ready for heaven. While the good may die young, God in his mercy gives the rest of us extra time to be purified. And that is very good news.