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The BIG Chill

 


Brrrr…Texans in my area have never experience cold weather like this before and it seems that we are all in a panic!! The forecast for Monday is 5 degrees and personally, in all my years I’ve never experienced this kind of cold before even when we vacationed in Colorado. Yes, I know I sound like I’m complaining and whining…well I suppose that I am, so sad too bad.

The thought hit me though as I look around and speak to a few friends, the public in general, does not know what to do or how to prepare for these abnormal temperatures. The media is providing some advice on preparations for ourselves, our homes, our pets and pipes which is all very important. However, the real question I have is why do we wait for right before the freeze blankets us to actually act on a plan of how we are going to combat and avoid being one of its victims? 

As I engage my devotion this morning, I got a mental picture of how I personally, and others I know, somehow wait until we are right dead set, right at the onset of a storm before we look up and say, “oh wow, I need to make sure I do everything needed to protect those I love”. It seems to me that when it comes to this, we are a people who procrastinate!  

        We put off many of the “what ifs” in life, for example: 

        We don’t add gasoline until it feels like we’re running on fumes

        We certainly don’t display or verbalize our deepest appreciation for the special people in our lives             until it’s almost too late or worse 

        We don’t consider the cons as much as we do the pros of life in many areas.  

        Face it, we procrastinate! 

Now, to get back to my mental picture…as believers in Christ, don’t we do the same thing in our spiritual life when it comes to attacks from all sides?  Don’t we roll right along with life, enjoying the conveniences and comforts it provides, all the while knowing, but not acting on or preparing for the times when we do have those attacks? When it feels like this winter freeze is more than we can bear or withstand the different levels of cold. When it seems like our soul is so cold and frozen to the urgings of the Spirit to look out and we become insensitive to many things around us. This is us! The Word tells us in many places to not only prepare for battle, but also to expect it. If we expect the hard times to come then we have an opportunity to gird up with the necessary resources, tools, and armor to defend against what comes upon us. Here’s the deal, we are told to expect, we are admonished to prepare, we have all the warnings that need to be given to recognize a battle is coming. Some will be large and seemingly overpowering, some will be just enough to annoy and distract us, but there is no reason we should be unprepared for it because we have been told and we should always be ready.

Is it any wonder our spiritual lives are so shaky and unsteady? Any wonder why our emotional state seems to be on a roller coaster most days? Up one day and down the next. Then, to make it all worse, we look to blame someone else for our ineptitudes. We want to justify our shortcomings by believing it was someone else or something else that caused me to be unsuspecting. We really do have a built-in shortcut to the garden don’t we (the blame game)? Look, it’s not a matter of what we haven’t done or haven’t said, and it’s not even a matter of being coerced, but it is our decision and our decision alone. No one can make us prepare.  Just like no one can force anything upon us if we don’t want what they have to offer. This can only happen if we provide the opportunity and allow it. Yup, agree with me or not, the condition we are in internally is made up of all the choices we have made or are making. Obviously, there are a few exceptions where we did not have a choice and praise God maybe we are healing from those, but for the most part, today we have the choice to prepare ourselves and our loved ones for the battles to come. Maybe some of us have made really bad choices in life, but know this, God loves us at this very moment just the way we are, exactly where we are, and in the condition that we are. No ifs, ands, or buts…how about this.  

Why don’t we all decide that today will be the first day that will change our lives for the better. That this day going forward we will prepare according to how God wants us to prepare and be ready for whatever comes our way. 

Not the easiest thing to do.

        Not the prettiest thing to do. 

                And certainly not the popular thing to do. 

                        But after all, this IS our own LIFE so make it mean something!


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