Matthew 25:1-13

Matthew 25:1-13 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Imagine a trellis -- when you first build it, maybe it looks a little silly, because you have a big trellis built over a little plant, and everyone who sees it wonders if the plant will ever grow big enough to need a trellis.  But later on, when the plant has grown and overwhelmed the trellis, upon which it has relied upon to support the growth, it doesn't look so silly.  In fact, it might well be impossible to build the trellis later -- the plant might be too unwieldy to get the trellis around it!
  The wise virgins in this story are the ones who built the trellis ahead of time.  They thought ahead about what they wanted the end result to look like, and prepared accordingly.  When plans changed and the events took longer than expected, they were prepared, because they had known what they wanted all along. 
  The foolish virgins just assumed everything would work out.  They didn't bother to plan, and they didn't think ahead -- they didn't start by thinking about how they wanted the story to end.  They figured they'd be able to manage along the way, but when the pivotal moment arrived, they didn't have ample resources, and so what they had assumed they wouldn't need became critical.
  Take thirty seconds and think about what you want your legacy at the end of your life to be.  Now determine what the trellis needed is -- and start building it!  What do you want people to say?  If you want to be heavily involved in volunteer work and leave a legacy of selflessness in your retirement, start small now, rather than wait for some miraculous change later.  Invest now in thinking about, planning for and starting to build the things into your life that will shape your life of faith.  They won't just happen later on.