As we dawn a new year and prioritize between good, better and best, consider the parable of the Great Supper in Luke 14:16-24. The Savior teaches an invaluable lesson about the destructive consequences of allowing worldly excuses to annul the things that matter most. In the parable, a certain man hosts "a great supper" and bids his guests to attend, saying through his servant, "Come; for all things are now ready" (Luke 14:17). But one by one, the diners who had committed to the feast make excuses, including awaiting a land inspection, caring for oxen, busy with domestic life, etc.
When the excuses are relayed to the master, he commands his servant to go into the streets of the city and invite the poor, the maimed and the blind to the feast. He further instructs the servant to go beyond the city walls to "the highways and hedges" that "my house may be filled" (Luke 14:23).