Being Last

Let's face it - none of us wants to be last. We don't want to be the last one chosen in class, the last one with a date for Prom, the last to leave home, the last to get married, the last to have a child... It hurts. It hurts a lot to feel unloved, unwanted, undesirable, unworthy. The hard part is remembering that not wanting to be last is a worldly, earthly, human way of thinking. (That I do, too. So don't get me wrong - I'm preaching to myself as well here.) The exact verse from scripture (NIV) is "So the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Matthew 20:16) I can't claim that I want to be last off Infertile Island, and I freely admit that I threw I gigantic hissy fit when my kid brother and his wife had a child before we did (after having a snit fit about him marrying first, too). I'm as guilty as the next person, but what I am trying to remember right now is Jesus' reminder in the parable of the vineyard workers that we are to take what has been promised to us and not compare it to what He has given others. Now if only it were that easy to do...