Prepare

It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving...and as tradition holds...lunch was to be at my house and this year, for the first time, I decided to get it all done on Tuesday...the food, the tables, the flowers etc. and just "heat up" on Thanksgiving day. I am a procrastinator by trade...and seldom do I ever do something, anything until the last minute so this was a new venture in progress. And it, I must say, was wonderful and I will make every effort to continue this method, because something quite wonderful resulted from it.

I had visited with a friend a day or so before who had told me about her nature walk at "The Arboretum"...well, since I had Thanksgiving lunch under control, I had time on Wednesday to hang out with my grand babies. And, since I was intrigued about the Arboretum and wanted a first hand experience with the walk, I gathered them up and took them, knowing that any adventure with them would be a reward...but this one was a true blessing.

For any of you who just want an outing that costs nothing but gains you everything in the way of peace and solace....this might be your spot. We spent two hours just winding through the trails, sitting on fallen trees, feeding turtles with someone else's left over tortillas, eating snacks, filling our brown bags with scavenger selected nature remnants (we made a list in the car thinking of what we might see), carrying big sticks, and running over low bridges (not with the sticks)....and just laughing and taking a few pics. It was a day to remember for sure..!

First if all, just being with the kids filled my heart till it was overflowing....but there was something about it being Thanksgiving that magnified the whole event. For as they scampered and played ..I prayed...as I watched...in thanksgiving to Christ for the time, the gifts, the peacefulness, and the preparation that allowed me the window to enjoy this piece of natural heaven that he has prepared for me on this earth. Oh, the peace that is found in nature...in the noises, the sights, the smells.....they seem to float their way into my head and rid me of the world outside the portals of this haven. But it was only was because I had prepared in advance, that I had the time and the inclination to explore the serenity that is right around my corner.

Preparation is such a worthy effort...becasue it ultimately affords us the impromptu ability to seek out other things that are not within our radar at the time. Thanksgiving is a time devoted to giving thanks....and I was blessed off the chart to have this quality time with my babies, with no worldly distractions, to savor their company and reflect in the quietness of the forest setting the awesome creation of God's "basics". Sometimes we do need to get back to the basics...the simple stuff...in order to appreciate from whence we have come, from who we have been created, and for whom we have been created. We are entrapped daily by the worldly threads of responsibility and duty, and treadmill activities. And peace does not abide in those places....it lives in the heart of our Christ...who lives within us.

We are bombarded each day with circumstances that we often times have no control over...and we need that peace....Christ's peace....to give us the stamina and strength to carry on. But we have to fight for it...and seek out a quiet refuge....and prepare our hearts ahead of time....so that when the challenges of life come blowing through...we will be ready.

I have fought the "prepare ahead"....mentality all my life...because I so love the adventure of surprise and impulse...but I have to say that this was one "in my face" examples of the rewards that preparing ahead may advance....and I have to say that I cherished it....and will consider maybe incorporating this preparation deal ahead of time in my Christmas planning, becasue.... I want that peace again...and again and again....for with it comes a definitive reality....it all comes back to Christ....what he has done, what he is doing, and what he has plans to do....in my life and yours.

1 Corinthians 2:9
However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived" - the things God has prepared for those who love him-

God is a planner and a preparer....and if I am to follow His way then maybe that should be part of my makeup as well. The impulses will still be there .....but maybe they would be even more fun...if I acted on God's nudges to get done what he has purposed first...in His timely manner.....then enjoy His rewards of peace and joy that will surely follow.

Dear Lord, I do get entangled in the busyness....and I do procrastinate and get stretched through last minute activities that I have left for last minute arrangements...help me to be prepared...to get prepared...so that the peace and joy that comes from you alone can be the banner that I carry....not my usual hurry up banner...of continued disorganization. I need your help...and I want your help to carry on in a way that reflects my devotion to you and your ways. Prepare me Lord....for your purposes. Amen
Praise God where ever you are and whatever situation he has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!