Preparations

      It seems that we spent a good portion of our time preparing for some event, or activity. We prepare each day in varying degrees for the next day at our workplace, classroom, or our day working at home. Much preparation goes into planning for trips, vacations, and even the career paths we will take.

      As we move from season to season, we see preparations being made for the transition between summer and winter, then winter back to summer. In this fall season, we see the animals preparing for the months when food will be unavailable. We hear chain saws cutting firewood, and see mulch being placed around the yard plants for protection against the cold. We know it is wise to make preparations for every phase of our lives.

      Every year around this time, we begin to see signs and advertisements for flu immunization in preparation against a disease, which surprisingly still takes human lives each year. So, we take the shot to help prepare our bodies against the germs which cause the flu.

     Just as preparations need to be made in the natural world for winter, any changing season, or for any event, God intends for us to be spiritually ready to face whatever may come our way. It is possible with all that life has to throw at us that we could lose our way, slipping off the path that God has made for us, and maybe even taking our hand from his to try to find our own way. We know that trying to face things in life without God would be a mistake, but it happens to people who are not prepared.

      We can prepare ourselves for whatever each day may bring, or the ups and downs of our spiritual seasons by following a path of spiritual disciplines. This path will lead us into a life that is Christ-centered, filled with a love of God and a love for each other.

      This path must involve daily prayer as a communication tool to form an intimate relationship with God. Our prayer will need to be deeply rooted in meditative reflection and study of Scripture.

      Then, we must not neglect to join with other believers in corporate worship and small group fellowship. We do this so that we can experience and praise God together, and grow as disciples. The effectiveness of Christ’s Church is in the unity of its individual members.

      In order to prepare ourselves even further, we realize that our financial resources and our spiritual gifts are given to us so that we can give them back to God. We give freely from a heart that is motivated by God’s love. We learn to serve without the expectation of anything in return.

      As we begin to practice these disciplines, the desire to tell others the story of Jesus begins to take root in our minds and heart. What we have begun to experience as disciples will need to be told to others. Therefore, personal evangelism begins to become part of our way of living and thinking.

      Let’s try these spiritual disciplines as we think of preparing ourselves for God’s kingdom here and now, and into eternity.

 

Rev Tim McConnell Long’s Chapel UMC October 7, 2012