At the countdown party hundred thousands of people will be gathering at the public square to celebrate the coming of New Year. They would welcome a new year with singing, dancing or even reveling along the street. What New Year means to them is a time of celebration and partying.

This year my older daughter repeatedly asked me if she could stay up late until midnight in order to celebrate the coming new year. Yet, she fell asleep eventually before 11 p.m on New Year’s Eve and I kept working on a translation task till midnight for my nephew.

In the parables of the ten virgins, five of them were foolish because they took their lamps with no oil. With a long delay the bridegroom finally arrived, but the foolish virgins were kept of the wedding feast (Matthew 25:1-13). Are we willing to stay awake not physically but spiritually with the Lord?