>>It was the first day back from summer vacation. The teacher gathered all her fourth graders and said, “Boys and girls, I hope you have a great summer vacation.” She said, “Where did you spend summer vacation?” A little fourth grade boy, Johnny Raisin said, “We spent the summer in Saskatchewan.” And the teacher said, “Johnny, that’s a marvelous word. Spell Saskatchewan.” And little Johnny said, “On second thought, we went to Green Bay.” 

[laughter] 

But I still don’t like the Packers. Okay. Here in the Chicagoland area, we have two seasons, winter and under construction. I realize I’m stretching the truth a bit, but I do want to stress a very important point. Our lives are always under construction. Our lives are always under construction. We may be building toward a better self-image, maybe building toward a stronger prayer life, maybe building new friendships. We may be recovering from addiction in our life. We may be building a new foundation after a terrible marriage or the death of a loved one. We may be making the adjustment of now living alone. We may be slowly coming to realize that change is inevitable, but growth is optional.  

In life, change is inevitable, but growth is optional. While road under construction stops us from traveling at the posted speed limit, the same is true for our lives. While under construction, we are slowed down, unable to set our life at the posted speeds. Now, to further complicate the issue, Jesus concludes his gospel today by saying, “Stay awake.” Stay awake. You now know neither the day nor the hour. Not an easy task. We’re trying to make the pieces of our life connect. In life, what are we looking for? What are we finding? There was a man who went to France and bought a Picasso painting. He brought it home. And later that, thought the picture was taken. The painting was a fake. So he tracked down the famous artist and ask Picasso after showing him the painting, “Is this painting of yours authentic or fake?” Picasso studies the drawing. He then said to the man, “You bought yourself a fake.”  

A few months later, the man purchased another Picasso painting and again asked Picasso, “Is this painting authentic or fake?” Picasso again, study the picture. And then he said to the man, “You have a fake.” This time the man replied, “No, it’s not. I watched you paint this picture yourself. What do you have to say for that?” Picasso calmly looked at him and said, “I often paint fakes.” I often paint fakes. The point of the story is this: How often do we paint a fake in this with our lives? Why are we challenged sometimes to be authentic? And we are challenged to be authentic and always in the Lord.  

We are called to be attentive and responsive to the moment. Life has no guarantees when the Lord is always present with us. In some ways, our lives are always under construction. Be attentive to the moment and authentic with our lives because too many people go through life running from something that is in after them. I’ll close with this. A teacher asked. He said, “Boys and girls, we have one nose. We have one mouth, and God gave us two ears. Why did God give us two ears?” A little boy replied, “So we can listen to both sides.”