Grab the Jewels - i.e. the Mitzvot - NOW.

There was once a king who, wanting to show his appreciation to his new general for winning the war, offered to allow him to go into his treasury house for an hour and take whatever he wanted for himself.

The general was thrilled. He prepared a large sack and waited anxiously for the day. But then the king regretted his decision. Not wanting to renege on his promise the king's advisers advised the king to place musicians at the treasury house and have them play the most beautiful music. This would distract the general from despoiling the king's treasury.

Sure enough the plan worked. The general became paralyzed and fixated with the music. By the time the general realized that he was losing the chance of a lifetime, the hour of opportunity had passed. He wound up with just a few small items, but lost all that potential for riches because of his distraction with the orchestra.

Rav Eliyahu Lopian said this parable refers to this world. G-d puts us in this world and tells us to "grab the jewels", i.e. – the mitzvot. However, at the same time, G-d gives us distractions of life. We become fixated with these distractions. One day, someone taps us on the shoulder and says, "It is time to leave this world." We look back and bemoan the fact that we have missed our opportunity of mining this world for the spiritual treasures that were available to us. We leave the world empty handed or at best, we leave with our sacks half full.

When the mitzvot are just there for our taking, it is hard to imagine that there will come a time that they will not be there anymore. We need to foresee the future and take the proper implications from that vision.