We enter into a time of reckoning of sorts. The readings for this Sunday extol the fruits of a life of wisdom, issue a call to live awake and in the light, and warn us with the parable of the talents.

An acquaintance confided in me that she rolls down her car window when she sees folks hanging out at the corner. “Get a job and a haircut!” she yells, and speeds off. It’s a cowardly way to express her annoyance, I admit.

I had a friend whose father worked a lot of evenings and also traveled a lot for his job. He once told me, "I was always relieved when I heard Dad's footstep on the stairs coming up to our apartment.

Working in my dad's grocery store as a teen, I was taught that the customer is always right and to smile at them no matter what.

We ask to be made good and faithful servants.

We desire peace but not the things that make for peace.