Do you really want to be happy? Want to make a difference? Find a place to use your talents to serve God by serving others. Matthew 6:33 says "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added to you." Invest yourself. Use what you have and let God multiply it.

God isn't measuring you against anyone else. He knows what He gave you - and He expects you to use it. If you fail - ask for forgiveness. If you succeed, give Him the glory.

Five of the bridesmaids realize they don't have enough oil. This is where we do another mashup with other parable. If the oil is just oil - then the parable is about Costco sized refills. But if the oil is really faith - and these bridesmaids suddenly realize they, "didn't feed Jesus, give Him water, clothe Him, visit Him, invite Him in" - it means they need to quickly go out and do a bunch of stuff to earn enough faith to light the path. Except you can't earn faith - especially at midnight. They are foolish because they are running around trying to do something that can't be done.

This takes us to the wise bridesmaids - who were seemingly rude and very NotChristian when they said, "there may not be enough for all of us - you need to go and get your own." I have to correct Jesus - it's not "there may not be" it is "there cannot be." I cannot believe for you. I cannot give you my faith. We use the term, "share our faith" - but we're not really sharing it as in me believing for you. We put our faith out there for people to see - but no one can give you a faith infusion.

There is an old intercessory prayer that says, "we must believe for them until they find their own faith." And it means we hold to the faith - we hold to the cross and empty tomb - we hold to the promise that one day there will be "no more tears or death or disease" - and we hold it up by the way we live - the way we talk - the way we worship - so others see Jesus in and through us. It doesn't mean we don't have doubts or fears or hurts or pains - but we hold to the promise God made at our baptism.

Ever woke up in the middle of the night because you remembered a moment in your life - it was only one second where you were distracted, one moment where you were tempted, one whatever where you realized your whole life was hanging by a thread - and the thread held otherwise you would have lost everything that is important to you. What kept that thread from breaking? And if it had snapped - and everything came undone - and your whole life was taken away - then what? Did you believe there was still the possibility of redemption?