Mark 13:24-37: Watch!

But in those days, following that distress, “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

“At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” - Mark 13:24-37

There are many programming tasks which are deadly to actually delivering a quality program. One of the most famous among computer engineers is "polishing the apple", also called "gilding the lily". It happens when a coder becomes obsessed with making something absolutely perfect and is never willing to go to the next step and release the product. That is: they are focused on looking down at the imperfections that they never look up to see the final goal.

In fact, he or she may become angry at the one who tells them that it is time to move on. 

We can be like that too. God has "put his servants in charge, each with their assigned task" and those tasks can consume all of our attention. But serving like that forgets the most important job of a servant: to watch what the boss is doing so that when the boss moves, the servant moves also. That's why Jesus says, "What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch'"

I think this happens because we conceive of God as static--that once we've figured out what God wants today, we think it will stay that way. We learn how to be good workers, parents, spouses today and "polish" that apple. But God is not static. He is good always but his goodness enters our lives in different ways at different times. That is why we are "followers": to see a new thing. Come with him. and he wants us to be there with him. 

"...Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." (Col. 3:1b)