Preparation vs. Relaxation

Well, it is the end of the summer....at least for this school teacher. One week and I will officially be back at work. Which brings me to my recent train of thought...preparation. There are so many things to do in order to be prepared for my students in the "fall" (it's still really summer when they come back). I re-structure my classroom, put up new and interesting things on my bulletin board, write out my plans through October, organize my desk, find new "soothing" music for my students to listen to while they work, and attend meeting after meeting about thrilling things like "what to do in an emergency" and "how to turn in receipts for reimbursements (again)." However, all these things, whether dull or exciting, put me back in the "school days frame of mind."

Open the fresh pack of paper, take out a new box of colored pencils, open a brand new text book, and take a whiff. Seriously. Try it. There's nothing like it. There are smells associated with going back to school (aside from sweaty middle school students in August). You savor those smells, because they will be gone before you know it. But they are all a part of the preparation stage.

I begin preparing mentally for the first day of school at the start of July. I get into my classroom to get some work done by the end of July. I begin writing things down the first of August. Then...it's official...I'm back. However, no matter how well I believe I'm prepared, the first day never goes the way you think it will. Heck, the first month rarely goes the way you think it will. Such is life.

What have you prepared for recently? A new job, a new church, a bible study, leaving a job, moving, facing an addiction, weight loss plan, dealing with depression? It doesn't matter the issue, I am always in a phase of preparation. I like to feel prepared. When I'm caught off guard, I instantly feel frustrated.

God doesn't want us to feel frustrated. He wants us to be prepared. However, we are preparing in a different way than we do for the first day of school. God is preparing you every day for the challenges that lay ahead. He prepared me to write this blog a couple years ago when I began opening up about my difficulties and victories with just one person. I wasn't ready to share my story with the world yet, but God was preparing me. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that HE knows the plans He has for you, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future." Prepare my friend! He knows what your future entails. You just need to prepare yourself by trusting in those plans. Is it always easy? No. Is it worth it? Yes.

1 Peter 1:13 tells us, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." He doesn't say, "here's everything you need to know." Instead He says, "prepare yourself, have self-control, set your hope on ME."

Now, preparation is the opposite of what most people would really like to do...relax. I have enjoyed a summer of relaxation. Lazy days by the pool, napping in the sun, going to movies, eating out with friends, no schedule, no work. It is difficult to pull yourself out of the mode of relaxation and go into the mode of preparation. So it is in our walk with God. It's much easier to relax and say, "I go to church on Sundays...that's when I hear from Him." It's easy to relax and "skip church this Sunday because I'd rather sleep in" or "skip worship and just make it for the sermon...that's the important part." God doesn't reward the relaxers! Yes, rest in Him, trust in Him, but don't sit on your rear end!

Prepare yourself! If you are prepared, He will use you. If you are prepared, He will surprise you with His outpouring. He loves you. The most important thing to be prepared for is eternity. Are you prepared? Do you know where you are going to spend eternity? In John 14, Jesus tells us He was going to "prepare a place for you." He desperately wants to spend eternity with you. He has prepared a place. Will you say yes?

Laying by the pool has been wonderful, but it is much more gratifying to say, "I teach middle school in hope of changing lives." It is great to go to church, but it is much more gratifying to say, "Jesus changed my life, therefore I am prepared to be used by Him."