The Boy Scouts with their motto, "Be Prepared," had nothing on our mother who believed one ought to live in preparedness. That's why she always asked, "Did you put on clean underwear?" Because what if you were in an accident and had to be taken to the hospital? What if the nurses there had to take off your clothes and put you in a bed? What if—oh, horrible thought!—they saw you had on dirty underwear!
My mother may well have been less concerned about our personal tidiness and the tender sensibilities of hospital attendants than about what nurses might conjecture about the upbringing she was affording her children! All the same, her attitude of being prepared for any contingency was not lost on me. Even today, I try to think ahead not only to
what I would like to happen but also to what might happen instead. While I can never foresee every possibility, it's likely that fewer bad things occur when I go into situations feeling prepared than when I have given no thought at all to what is ahead.
Part of preparation is an inner readiness. An anonymous pray-er said, "O Lord, help me to understand that You ain't going to let nothing come my way today that You and me together can't handle.” Confidence in ourselves and trust in God's kind providence is an underpinning when unexpected circumstances present themselves. We need not be frightened by all the "what if's," if we have these resources.
When I was a child, wearing clean clothes was my small role in being prepared. Now that I am older I still need to be "dressed" appropriately. "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness." (Isaiah 61:10) With that, I am prepared!
MaryMartha
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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