“And Esau said to Jacob

 “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.”

Therefore his name was called Edom.

 But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.”

And Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”

And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way.

Thus Esau despised his birthright.

-Genesis 25:30-34

“You have no control over when you die or (most often) how you die, but you do have control over how you live.” –Erwin Mcmanus

As I meditate on this last year, I have thought of the countless opportunities that I have allowed to slip through my fingers. I am haunted by the countless squandered hours that I have buried in the dirt of laziness.  I think of how many times I have chosen to “sell my birthright” of eternal productivity for a “swallow” of temporal pleasure.

Time is truly the most valuable treasure entrusted to each of us, how we choose to use it determines how rich we are in the future.

Each of us has been given “ten minas” as in the parable told by Jesus in Luke 19:12-27. Everyone has been given the same amount of seconds, minutes and hours each day and we shall all be judged by what we draw from them. Each hour, each minute really is an opportunity, a potential future waiting to be hewn from its solid state. Like master sculptors we must see the image in the rough rock of time and be diligent to hammer away at its hard outer shell; until we see the emerging work manifest through our labor and skill. Countless works lay strewn all about us unfinished, cast aside due to lack of perseverance or patience. Large chunks of raw resources awaiting hands willing to chisel out of them their intended form. Many never appear because there are few who have vision keen enough to see what lies hidden in their depths.

One day Michelangelo was seen dragging a huge piece of rugged stone down the road and a man asked him why he was dragging such a weight and Michelangelo replied, “There is an angel trapped inside waiting to get out”.

How many “angels” are hidden in the rocks that lie all around us but stay imprisoned due to the lack of vision or diligence on our part?

Just where thou art, along thy path,

Are treasures greater than yet dreamed;

Be not content with what life hath-

Earth’s rock with gold is richly seamed.

-Lucas A. Reed

I want to be like Jacob in the above passage, who has the wisdom to seize upon neglected birthrights, that countless others despise. While others are content to spend their lives swallowing “red stuff”, I want to be gathering up these priceless opportunities. There are myriads of deals that await those who will trade their “minas” for greater wealth. What are you trading your time for? With a bit of industry we can trade our minutes and hours for treasures that will repay us in the days and years ahead.

I think of our bodies, and how they will reward those who train them, work them, discipline them with exercise. How they will reward those who persevere in sweaty labor with added years of enjoyment at the dusk of life. How if we trade present ease and deny momentary indulgence at the table; we will be granted more hours of enjoyment with our grandchildren. How we will be able to think clearer, speak with more joy, move with greater ease and spend our last days with greater dignity because of our earlier wisdom. Though death visits us all, it’s easier on those who arm themselves for it’s final assault with a large bank account full of the riches paid by years of physical care. A walk through a local nursing home will arrest you with the value, the wealth, the priceless birthright of health.

I think of the mind, and how it is so easily numbed by neglect. How it becomes fuzzy and befuddled by lack of sharpening on the stones of broader and deeper minds. How speech is dull and wit is soft if not strengthened and hammered on by the great blacksmiths of literature, philosophy, culture and theology. Nothing is so dazzling as an illumined mind that Like Moses, shines because it has been bathed in the light of greatness. Those who want to travel through dark places would be wise to light their lamps at the glimmering torches of those who have passed this way before. It’s a sad thing that most people live vicariously through entertainment, unwilling to live their own lives; they waste away theirs in fantasyland. We are not brave enough to live life instead we pine away living off the cultural morphine of Hollywood. We are addicts of this deadly serum, produced for the masses that’ve chosen the galley instead of the helm of life.

I think of our spirit, the heart and core of our being that so often is a smoldering wick instead of the very flame of the Lord. How we have abandoned the work of hoisting our spiritual sails and are content to drift aimlessly, hoping to reach our destines on the waves of chance. We are satisfied for shallow and well-muddied waters, when deep and mysterious depths lay but a few strokes out. We settle for the lowlands of spiritual life, when the mount of God lays waiting, promising transformation for all who dare to climb. We are tethered to our fellows who always see themselves as grasshoppers when facing giants. Where are those who have freshly struck living waters streaming from their bellies instead of seeping, lukewarm trickles?

As we enter New Year, I pray you will be able to walk with your eyes focused on what lies ahead. Not walking backwards into the future with your eyes on some failure, some offense; but forward with determination, faith and passion.  Live this year without regrets, dare to dream and then live your dream. If you have started something but it lies unfinished, pick up your chisel with renewed vigor and complete your task.

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost, that is where they should be,

 Now put the foundations under them.” –Henry Thoreau

Don’t let another year slip by, don’t squander another day’s opportunity, untie your life vessel from the docks of inaction and sail boldly out into the seas of purpose, your eyes charted by the compass of God’s heart and your hands firmly gripping the wheel of determination and perseverance.

Your fellow traveler,

Eric Blauer