Making Preparations

My friend and fellow alderman, Lynda Bramlett sent word to me today that she had some rubber plant cuttings, and wondered if I wanted some. Of course, I said yes and, after getting cleaned up from my attic work, headed over to her house.

Lynda has a huge greenhouse and her husband and brother-in-law were putting visqueen on the outside to get it ready for winter cold. She had already started moving the plants inside for protection and had more plants than she wanted to keep over the winter, so she was giving me cuttings to try to root. My trunk was full of plants when I left, headed for my own greenhouse. 

I was surprised at how early she was preparing. It seems like we have just started having autumn! Cold weather should be months away, shouldn't it? Checking the weather forecast revealed that we will have lows of 43 next week. That's a little closer to freezing than I'd expected, and I guess Lynda is right after all.  It's time to prepare. 

This afternoon, I began looking at my own plants, deciding what needs to be divided, what needs to be moved, what can survive the winter in place. I'm super excited that, for the first time, I can move them all to the safety of my new greenhouse rather than recreating a tropical forest in my living room. I, too, am getting prepared for cold weather.

There's been considerable talk about preparations of all kinds lately. There are personal protections suits, Ebola prevention kits, and bug-out bags for sale, and they are flying off the shelves. After an 18-day stretch without electricity and running water during the ice storm of 1994, I like to be well-prepared myself, but my stockpiling generally includes matches, water, rice, and dried beans. I don't want to forget seeds. No matter what happens, I always keep seeds for the next crop. My strategy is to have enough food to keep me alive until my seeds have time to grow more food. 

With all our preparations for disaster, it is easy to forget that there are more important preparations to make. Regardless of what comes our way in this lifetime, we will all face eternity and preparing for that is the most vital preparation we can make. None of our stockpiling here will make as much difference as storing up our treasures in heaven. Jesus had strong words for those with only earthly treasure and we would do well to take heed. 

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21 NASB)

How prepared are you? Make sure you are storing up treasure will last. All the preparation in this world will not matter a bit if you don't also prepare for the one to come.