Preparation

A lot of people get so “uptight” preparing to die, that they forget how to live. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you should never plan ahead but, please never let those “what should I do ifs” become overpowering. Living for each minute of each day is the reason we have to look forward to waking up each morning. Our goal each day should be living THAT day. If it ends up being the day we die, so be it!
Many work so hard preparing that they lose sight of the goal they were preparing for. Much of our life’s preparation ends up in the file we call learning experiences, sometimes they work and then….. If our planning and preparing involves others, discuss it with them, consult with them! Please don’t wait until you have everything “written in stone” to spring it on others. Plan first then prepare!
Husbands and wives often make plans for their other not knowing (or caring) if that other already had that time slot filled with their list of planning and preparation. Often this ends with a tip-toeing situation for both sexes.
In my list of definitions (that sometimes sounds foreign to others) I list planning as something fluid. Something fairly easily changed. I have hundreds of ideas flipping through my brain most of the time. When I find a free moment I pull an idea out and go to work on it. For an example of my kind of planning the idea could be nothing more than what I would like for dinner, or it could be as complex as should I use 2x4’s or 2x6’s for the framework for the lighthouse I’m planning to build in my front yard---sometime maybe. But, each is only an easily changed plan floating in my head!
When I’m preparing for something, it will be a firm happening! It will happen! And, I must be ready for the consequences!
Many times I’ve felt I had things all in hand, then at that last minute the whole thing falls apart! My past instruction to my kids has always been; have a backdoor, build in an alternate. I have found that at times my ways and God’s ways differ. It took me a while to remember that I ended each prayer with “and your Will, will be done”. And, it took still longer to learn to accept that will!
Other times, just a trivial thing messed up my plans. I call these; clashes with “Murphy’s Law”. I’ve had Murphy hand me a new set of law books at the very last minute. In time I’ve learned to allow a little something extra in both my planning and my preparation for my friend Murphy!
For many years I was a wedding photographer. During that time I photographed over a thousand weddings. At first I was surprised at the number of Mothers who referred to their daughter’s wedding as “MY wedding”. I always took that as a warning sign! Several times, after I saw how controlling those Mothers wanted to be at their daughter’s wedding, I would ask that they choose another photographer. Many of those mothers not only wanted to prepare for that wedding, they planned to control it! In preparation they had lost sight of the goal!
Years back I learned the difference between preparing for a situation and trying to control a situation. In all things human you must still leave room for your God to walk beside you.
In planning and preparing the hardest lesson to learn is when to let go. And, we cannot expect God to do all the work!