I'll tend to the field another day!

As Grace eats her oatmeal, I'm thinking about the great feast that I've been invited to.  My Gospel lesson (from the 14th chapter of Luke) this morning talks about the parable of the banquet feast; where the host invites his friends to dinner.  The problem comes when all of the invited guests offer excuses as to why they can not come to the feast.  One man has to tend to his new field and another has just bought five oxen and another says he's married.  A new field.....REALLY!?  Jesus had already told the host that when he prepares a feast, he should invite the lame and blind and poor...(in my mind, they're people who really want....maybe even need... to partake of the feast).  The host, not unlike us, was inviting people who might be able to return the invite.  Well, the parable suggests that we don't need to limit our invites to those who can return them.  That's not the point of the feast.  The point, and my lesson for this morning, is that we have been invited to a great feast and whether we believe it or not, we are the lame, blind and poor.  We need to go to the dinner table that's been prepared.  I, as I'm sure many of you do, offer excuses all the time as to why I decline the invite (at different times and seasons in life).  Careers, marriages, children, lots of money, not enough money, fear, doubt, hurt, distrust....a new field that needs attention.  Yes, to God our excuses sound just as ridiculous as tending to a new field sounds to me.  Sure, there is some (plenty) validity to what we offer as a reason (excuse) for not establishing and maintaining a committed relationship with God, but at what cost are we declining the dinner invitation.  Should we not offer ourselves (and ultimately God) to those in our lives who need us....those who need to be fed spiritually, emotionally...  Should we not accept that same offer from God and those he's placed in our lives.  Today, I'm preparing my heart, mind and spirit to be fed....I'll tend to the field another day!