Be Content And Grateful With What You Already Have

Despite not being a Catholic, yet, I have been greatly fascinated by the Christian parables told in and out of the Bible.

I have frequently used some of these parables to remind myself, and my children, of what we should aspire to do, and be.

This one is a particular favourite.

A vineyard owner employs casual workers to work for him. Each morning a number of workers would wait outside his vineyard to start work early, and be paid the agreed daily wage of one denarius at the end of the work day.

One day, in the afternoon, the vineyard owner spotted a few wanderers outside his farm asking if they could also work. They were allowed to join the rest of the workers on the farm.

At the end of the work day, the vineyard owner paid out the wages to everyone. He first called out the last people who came, and paid them one denarius each. Then he paid out, also one denarius, to every other worker who started work from the morning. These early workers became unhappy, for they were paid the same wage as those that came to work late and worked for lesser hours.

The vineyard owner said to these unhappy workers, "Did you not agree to be paid one denarius a day for your work? Now you are receiving exactly that, why are you still not happy?"

The parable is traditionally taught to imply that the reward of heaven is equal for all believers, whether they have been a long time believer, or a new believer.

We can also draw many other lessons from it. Remember, life is not always fair. Perhaps we need to be mindful that fairness does not have a simple definition.

Be content and grateful with what you already have.