Thursday 20th August, 2009
ST BERNARD. Judges 11:29-39. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will—Ps 39(40):5, 7-10. Matthew 22:1-14.

  
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When Jephthah the Gileadite took the lives of the Ammonites, he understood everything of victory, but very little of sorrow and loss.

He had simply made a promise to God—a holocaust from his household if victory against the Ammonites was granted—and in the short-term the results were in his favour. However, the final cost of the promise was terrible. Sacrificing his only daughter, Jephthah soon understood all there was to know of suffering, grief and bitter regret.

Life is short and eternity … eternal. Jephthah’s daughter, honouring a solemn promise, mourned the life she would not lead and prepared herself for eternity. Perhaps, strangely, she was blessed. Blessed to have the opportunity to reflect on her short life, to thank God and make her peace with the world.

I don’t wish for a short life; indeed, I hope for a long life. But I pray for the wisdom to always remember that God has ‘given me an inch or two of life’. So I must make as much of this life as I can, to give with full heart and mind, and prepare for the next life without fear. God, help me find this readiness of spirit—the right spiritual wedding garb—each and every day.