It’s never too late.

It’s never too late to turn to God because God will come to seek what was lost. Oh, but think of the time we waste, wrapped up in our own selves, feeling superior, feeling greedy, feeling as if someone is getting more than us. We live in fear that we aren’t getting enough and that someone else has more when so many of us have so much more than we will ever need of material possessions. We pull our fear and our insecurity and our disgruntled-ness around us like a blanket, but the blanket won’t keep us warm or safe. The whining of what about me only serves as a trap to pull us away from what we could be.

In today’s Gospel we have the opposite. Zacchaeus, the short, wealthy tax collector, climbed a tree to get a glimpse of Jesus. Zacchaeus had been lost, but Jesus found him. And there was joy. That joy helped to dissolve all that came before. Zacchaeus was found. He found himself. He promised to throw off that blanket of fear and insecurity and instead sought the more in God. We can all be Zacchaeus, who turned to God with joy. He did hard things. He could give up his possessions to the poor and make right the mistakes he had made. We can too. We are all sinners, but it’s never too late. Jesus calls to us as well, to let God into our hearts and our lives. We can answer yes and keep saying yes.

It’s never too late.