Be Prepared!

 As I sat in the living room this morning sorting out over the phone and through text messages some urgent issues that have cropped up in the last few days with my bank, I glanced out of the window and saw the tall magnolia tree in the backyard shaking violently in the wind. My immediate reaction was to pray for its safety. 

Then I looked at myself. I’m not facing the winds outside but different kinds of winds have been blowing at me lately and I have been weathering them in whatever way I can. 

A more conscious look at this phenomenon almost accidentally today and the first thing that occurred to my mind was “ preparedness “. When the winds begin to toss one around, having the mind prepared for it changes the game. I must admit that until now what was happening was the storms would arrive and I would deal with them in whatever way I could, from day to day, in whichever way I could, with whatever resources I had. It was perseverance only. Perseverance does not constitute preparedness. Preparedness is willingness to confront combined with an instinctive calculation of the involved risks along with a rough estimate of necessary measures to withstand the onslaught. Not minute by minute scrambling to put out the fires.

Such conscious total preparedness was absent as I fought the battles. Seeing the storm in the eye was missing. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that I closed my eyes as I fought the battles because deep inside I didn’t want to see them. I didn’t want them in my life. I don’t know if it would change the outcome to look them in the eye and fight. But at least now I am equipped with one more piece of strength from within. Absence of reluctance translates into strength.

More  importantly, I would be facing truth in its totality, rather than avoiding the inconvenient truth and desiring only its convenient counterpart.

Perhaps the tree is already doing this for all the years it has been standing there. 28 years to be precise, almost 29 in a few months. Standing tall, fully prepared to resist and withstand any amount of wind, rain or heat. 

Timid souls never know what it means to hold the head high, even as they stand or give a fight . 

When a giant falls, its head is still held high! 

The magnificent magnolia was teaching by example.