Our daughter Allison is an attorney. We knew it was coming when she was young. As a freshman in High School she wanted a pager. Pagers seem as strange now as do CB radios. Anyway, she wrote a two-page letter outlining her need of a pager, how she would benefit from the pager, how we would benefit from the pager and the guidelines by which she would operate the pager. We have kept this document as one of our treasures. She received the pager and everything else she requested through one of her “legal” letters.
Other times, Allison showed her penchant for preparation. It was December and the big people were decorating the church for Christmas. Allison was in one of the church parlors writing furiously. She was still in elementary school. I asked her why she wasn’t helping with the decorating and she said she was doing school work. I asked her what she was writing. She showed me.
She was writing one hundred times, “I will not talk in class.”
I asked, “Allison, is this your punishment for talking in class?”
She said, “No, I’m doing it just in case I might need it.”
I could have given the father lecture about being a good child and not talking in class, but I knew that would be a wasted conversation. As far as I know, she still has that sheet of paper and she never used it. She has always been a bit quirky when it comes to preparation. Her motto is that you can’t be over-prepared.
In the last couple of years, Allison’s level of over preparation has served her well.
How do you prepare for our uncontrollable and unpredictable future? You can’t. You are wasting time worrying that you can’t prepare for tomorrow. Jesus chided his followers that they needed to let today’s trouble be enough for today, without dragging tomorrow backwards into today.
Jesus also spoke to the crazy times when He said,
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven…At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
Jesus’ answer to preparing for the future is found in that last line of the quote. The one who does not give up on today will be saved. Today and tomorrow are in God’s hands. If we believe we are too, then why are we fretting so? Live fully, faithfully, and free today.
When you read of or see something frightening in the media remember, Jesus said it would happen. Please don’t panic, tomorrow is in Jesus’ hands. You are too!
