Mickey has just bought himself a new car and it came with a very thick ‘User’s Manual’ as thick as a Bible. The Manual describes the car and its parts in great details, how to operate the car, how to maintain it and its different components like the transmission, the engine, the brakes, the AC, etc., and what to do when the car or some its components do not work. The thick volume looked intimidating. If I had to go through the whole manual to drive the car, forget it. The excitement of driving a new car is enough for me to operate it. I will read the manual when I need to.
The Bible is perhaps like a ‘User’s Manual’ for our lives? It tells us about what life is, what makes up our life, how to live our lives and what to do when things go wrong. It is also a thick volume and it also looks intimidating. Life is too exciting for me to take time to read the manual. And I usually turn to it only when things go wrong or when I need to.
I look at Jane and Jonathan and the fun they have at playing their video games. They do not need ‘Instructions’ or ‘User’s Manuals’ to enjoy them. They just take to these things intuitively. Maybe, it is the environment they grew up in or the air they breathe or the interactions they have with their playmates. They simply take to this things like ducklings to the water.
There are also no ‘Instructions’ nor a ‘User’s Manual’ for life. But I see the instructions all over the place: in the beauty and grandeur of the environment around us, in the freshness and purity of the air that we breathe, in the interactions I have with the people around me. The instructions are written not on the wall but deep in my heart. We naturally seek and want to know what life is about, what to do to have a good life and how to make things right when things go wrong.
As Mother Teresa used to say: “To keep the lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”
Jesus said to his disciples, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.”
Matthew 25:1-13