Opportunity Lost
Over and over every Lent, the Bible passages selected and the resulting sermons all point out to us the importance of building and mending relationships. I’ve written a few posts myself on this topic.
On Sunday evening, I received the sad news that my boss’ aged mother who was suffering from a terminal illness had passed away. When I heard this news I felt a tinge of regret for not being available to lend a moral hand when he needed it. He was preparing himself for his mother’s passing and had alerted me some weeks ago to stand in for him during his absence when his mother passes away.
On Friday evening, as we were packing up to leave office, he invited me to join him for a round of drinks. He did not explain the reason to me but I had overhead him earlier inviting someone else for the same and mentioned that he just wanted to relieve some stress. In retrospect, I guess he just wanted the company to help relieve the emotional strain he was undergoing while coping with a dying mother.
At the moment he invited me, I failed to comprehend this need of his and I declined his invitation as I wanted to badly attend Friday Mass and Stations of the Cross that I ad missed the last two weeks. To make matters worse, as I was driving to church, I had to detour to attend to my son’s transportation needs.
When I heard the news of my boss’ mother’s demise, my mind immediately wandered to the episodes of Friday evening. I wonder which was the more important thing for me to do? Should I have helped a colleague in need or should I have gone to church? Was I being a stickler for form rather than substance?
