Be Prepared

It’s been hot.  It’s cooled off some the last couple of days, but we’ve had quite a bit of hot weather this summer.  And there’s nothing unusual about that.  Heat in summer is like cold in winter.  We may not like it, but we know it’s going to happen.

It seems to me that when you don’t like something, there are two things you can do about it.  You can change it, or you can accept it.  Well, technically, there’s a third thing you can do.  You can complain about it.  And that, of course, is an option that we often take.  But while complaining may be temporarily satisfying, it does not help anything in the long run.  And so, we’re back to our other two options.  We can either change it, or we can accept it.

And of course, sometimes, we really only have one option, because there are some things that we cannot change.  One of them is getting older.  We cannot change the fact that we will get one day older every day, one month older every month, one year older every year.

Some of us don’t like that.  And there are things we can do that will hold off the aging process for a while.  We can try to eat right.  We can try to get proper exercise.  We can do things to keep our minds healthy and active.  And that sort of thing will help, for a while.  But only for a while.  Ultimately, unless something happens suddenly, we are all going to continue to get older, until we all eventually die.

Which, of course, is another thing we cannot change.  We cannot change the fact that we are all going to die.  Again, we can try to hold it off as long as possible, but the one thing we know is that there will come a time for each of us when it is time to leave this world and go to the next one.  We may not like that, but we cannot change it.

So, if we cannot change it, that leaves us no alternative but to accept it.  But what does that mean?  I don’t think it means that we should constantly dwell on death.  I’ve said many times that we need to make the most of every day that God gives us on this earth.  We need to live every day to the full extent that we can.  I try to do that, and I believe we all should. 

But at the same time, we also need to live with an awareness that those days will come to an end at some point.  And one thing that I think that means is that we need to be prepared for death.  We need to be prepared in every way possible:  mentally, emotionally, financially (if possible), and spiritually.

In the spiritual sense, being prepared means staying as close to God as we can.  It means asking God to put God’s Spirit into our hearts and into our souls.  It means doing whatever we can to feel God’s presence with us every day, no matter what happens.

I don’t know how it works for you, but for me, when I feel God’s presence with me, I feel like I’m prepared for whatever happens.  Not because I know what to do, but because I know God will know what to do.  If God is with me, I know that all I need to do is do the best I can, and God will see to it that things go the way they’re supposed to go.  That may not be the way I want them to go, but it will be the way God wants them to go.  And that’s really all that matters.

We can try to adapt to the weather, but we cannot change it.  We can try to hold off the aging process, but we cannot change it.  And we certainly cannot change the fact that one day, we will all pass away.  But with God’s help, we can be prepared for all of these things.  And when they happen, we can accept them, knowing that God is with us and that God will make things go the way they are supposed to go.