Prepare for a New Day

Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. "For the last fourteen days," he said, "you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven't eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head." After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. – Acts 27:33-36

Today’s Reading: Psalms 43-45; Acts 27:27-44

So, in this part of our story Paul and friends are on a boat that is being tossed about the sea by some crazy winds and waves. Everyone thinks they are going to die; except for Paul, who received word from an angel that they’d be alright.

When everyone on the ship had given up hope, Paul came through with the words above. Instead of focusing on the current danger he wanted to help the crew prepare for the next day.

This made me think about how I am when I go through trials. I tend to be a worrier. I focus, at times, way too much on the bad of a situation rather than on the solutions that will help me grow in to the person I am supposed to be on the other side of the struggle. This is important to remember because a current hardship may set us on the wrong path if we let it.

Often times the mountains that we have to climb in the present are revealed as speed bumps when they have become part of our past. A trial always seems worse when we cannot see a way out of it. But we tend to find our way, sooner or later; often times after spending way more energy worrying about the trial than overcoming it.

No matter how rough things get, we must never stop preparing for the new day.

The new day will come no matter what. If we can learn to stop worrying, and spend that energy on endeavors that will prepare us for the next steps that we need to take, we will be much better off.

If you are down and out because you lost your job, don’t just look for a new one. Put together a budget so that you can prepare to get yourself back on track when that job comes. If you are sad because you are lonely and have been single for a long time don’t just go out into the world looking for a mate. While you are waiting on that special someone try to figure out why the last situation didn’t work. Do some soul searching. Read a book. Seek good counsel from folks that you trust.

It all goes back to staying ready so that you don’t have to get ready.

This is hard to do because the pressures of today tend to blind us to what is coming tomorrow. But if we can become the masters of our worry and use that energy to relax and plan for better times, those better times will be much better indeed.