Drops of Oil

When speaking with news anchor Katie Couric after landing his airliner on the Hudson River, Chesley Sullenberger said, “One way of looking at this might be that for 42 years, I've been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education and training. And on January 15, 2009, the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal.”

The Parable of the 10 Virgins, found in Matt 25:1-13, is a powerful lesson and warning that we must be vigilant with our spiritual preparation too. These two themes fit together. There’s another aviation saying that applies: “Flying is hours of boredom, punctuated by moments of terror.”

Our lives can be looked at the same way. We live our day to day lives making small deposits to our spiritual reserves accompanied by small withdrawals. In this mode, we go on, perhaps for weeks, months and even years. Then, when we’re not expecting it, we face the moment when we must draw on all our experience and spiritual reserves to survive. And by survive I mean our enduring a trial with our faith in God and Jesus Christ intact when we come out the other side.

That we will have such trials is certain. What we do to prepare for them is up to us and if we prepare daily… easily done. The promise of Helaman 5:12 is that by so preparing we will survive.