Whatever state of life we’re in: married or unmarried, happy or sad, powerful or weak, wealthy or poor, we must make the most of these states in the best way we know to serve and glorify God before the world in its present form passes away.

Now is the time to back-burner our worldly pleasures and treasures … our wealth, our loved ones, professions, positions, freedom and independence, and front-burner the opportunities we have to serve God in whatever place we’re in right now.

It's time to pray for clarity about what we should be doing in our present state instead of dreaming about altering our states to satisfy our temporal desires. We must keep the world out of our hearts and cultivate an eternal perspective, because all the things we treasure in this earthly life are vanity and detract us from the one true destination worth pursuing… eternal of life with Christ.

So let us entrench ourselves where we’re planted and do the tasks God lays in front of us because time is running out, as St. Paul says, and we may not have enough of it to pull up stakes in search of a better worldly life to satisfy our short-term dreams.

Perhaps it’s also time to proclaim a fast and put on our modern-day sackcloths as the Ninevites did. We never know when our "Jonah" may announce our home stretch to us.

​Reflections on the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 7:29-31