Thursday, April 9, 2009

Are You As Prepared As You Think You Are?

It happens for almost every new parent. Having had, in some cases, years to plan and prepare for the moment their baby is finally born, they come to the stark realisation very early on that they hadn’t anticipated many certain things.

From the amount of attention the baby requires, to the loss of sleep, to the smell of baby excrement and vomit--it’s a brand new experience, and often one not cherished at the time. It shouldn’t come as a surprise but it so often does.

This sort of thing can both tarnish the experience as well as educate. But, there’s a broader life lesson here.

From my experience, we’re rarely ever prepared for anticipated major life change at the point at which it happens. We often get surprised. We can think we’re prepared prior to it occurring, but then in the thick of it we realise, to our forlorn dismay, the amount of work still remaining ahead of us. It’s quite frightening, initially.

Knowing this either from bitter experience that has taught us to laugh bashfully now, when looking back, or from simply believing another’s experience of life--an albeit commonplace experience, gives us an awareness that can help.

It can help us in preparing for the next major life change, and the next. Of course, we have to invest the time, also, in preparing for things coming toward us!

Additionally, this doesn’t always help for the unanticipated life change that is foisted on us. What can help in those circumstances is faith in God, our Deliverer. What or who else could help in circumstances well beyond our control?

Copyright © 2009, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

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