We all know the parable Jesus tells today (Mt 25: 1-13) in which He compares the Kingdom of Heaven to 10 virgins who took their lamps to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise, and took extra oil in case the bridegroom was delayed, and five did not. The "foolish" virgins who did not take extra oil for their lamps missed the arrival of the bridegroom because they were gone buying oil when he arrived, and so they were excluded from the wedding feast. Stay awake, Jesus tells us is the point of the story, for we don't know the time when the Kingdom of Heaven will break upon us. In other words, be ready to met the Lord, at whatever time and place it may happen. Don't put it off until tomorrow, for "you know neither the day nor the hour." That whole idea of being ready to meet the Lord reminds me of one of my favorite Tracy Chapman songs, called "Change." The refrain asks the question: "If you knew that you would die today, and see the face of God and love, would you change?" Getting ready to meet the Lord requires change, the song suggests, and even if we knew that was about to happen, would we do it? Can we change? Are we willing to change? And if we won't change even when we know that we're about to meet the Lord, how can we possibly change when we can give ourselves the excuse that the Lord probably isn't coming today and we can always change tomorrow? As was the case with the virgins, getting ready to meet the Lord takes some planning, some looking ahead, some preparation. You can't just roll with it and hope for the best. Look how well that worked for the "foolish" virgins. So maybe if we want to change, to be ready, we need to be more thoughtful. Maybe we need to think about how our day is going to go, and mindfully work on getting ready-- not just save that for whatever left-over time we have. Maybe that means changing habits, getting up a bit earlier, finding time for prayer, affirmatively thinking different thoughts about the people we meet, reordering our priorities. If we don't do things like that, we won't change. And if we don't change, grow in holiness, become more of the person God wants us to be, how can we think we'll be ready to meet the Lord?