Monday Morning Memo: Being Prepared

This coming Thursday, our daughter Megan will be entering the hospital to give birth to our second grandson.  Knowing that life will be just a little more hectic now with two children in their home under the age of two, we decided to spend a marathon day in her kitchen last week.  Our goal?  To have 22 dinners tucked away in her freezer before we collapsed!

We survived the day…barely.  Both of us were fairly spent.  As we finished up, Megan said, “I don’t think I ever want to cook again in my life!”  She had probably cut up more meat and vegetables in one day than she had in the past several months combined and it had taken its toll.  Standing for a day can be difficult for many of us, but being nine months pregnant made it even more taxing.

All that work will be worth it though in the weeks to come, when she or her husband can go to the freezer and pull out something to put either in their crockpot or oven for dinner.  The time that they will save from having to be in the kitchen then, can be spent with their precious children or possibly taking a much needed nap.  A little sacrifice now makes for a lighter workload in the days to come.

What we accomplished that day is what I call “being prepared”.  Anticipating very busy days in the future, it’s good to figure out what can be done today in preparation for possibly stressful times.  It involves thinking ahead…making plans…and then working to get some of the tasks accomplished ahead of time to hopefully make life a little easier in the days ahead.

I realize that circumstances don’t always allow us to prepare for stressful, chaotic days.  But I do think that there are times in our life where some forethought would have prevented us from falling apart under our workload.  I can think of times in my life where I have felt panicky and overwhelmed with the tasks at hand, but when I honestly evaluated why…it was often because I waited until the last minute instead of being prepared ahead of time.

Proverbs 16:3 tells us to “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”  Are there things in your future that have you stressed to the max?  If so, first take the time to commit those things to Him.  Then see if there is something you can do today in preparation.  You may not be able to take an entire day out of your schedule now, but even marking one thing off your to-do list will help to lower your blood pressure and help settle your nerves.  The Lord promises to guide us in our plans, but I believe He wants us to do our part in using our time wisely as we plan.

Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.”  His words are wise.  Start taking action today to move you closer to being prepared for the days to come.