Being Prepared

"If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." D&C 38:30 A good bit of counsel that can apply to many things.

1. If I have studied I need not fear the exams.
2. If I have saved I need not fear being broke.
3. If I have food and water stored I need not fear being hungry or thirsty
4. If I am out of debt I need not fear the creditors.
5. If I have gas in the car I need not fear running out.
6. If I pray, and study and serve I need not fear disappointing God.

Maintain a supply of food, water and money at home for emergencies. It can be acquired a can at a time and a dollar at a time. Aim for a weeks extra of food, then 3 months, then a year, and rotate it regularly. Then if there is a disaster, or you are out of work, or a neighbor or family member needs help you can give it, and rejoice that you can.

Pay back to God from each paycheck. Pay yourself (via savings) after that, then learn to manage with what is left. Get out of debt. One way to do this is to put any extra you may have towards paying off either the highest interest debt or the one to finish first. Then the money that was going to that debt is diverted to paying off the next debt and the pattern is repeated until you are debt free.

Stuff will not make you happy. Stuff never does for long.

Ten More Minutes

A parable of the cups. Sometimes when painting china and firing them in a kiln, the paint can come out chalky to the touch, and come off of the china. To a potter this is frustrating, but a mere ten more minutes in the heat of the kiln sets it properly.

We are like that in the Lord's hands. He is the master potter. He knows what we need to be all we can be. His timetable is not ours. Sometimes we might think we are all we can be, we have been heated and tested enough, but the Lord, the Master Potter knows more than we do.

Sometimes we need just ten more minutes.

Parable of the cat

I have a cat who likes to sleep on my chest. In order to allow him to do this I have a sash which I wear across my shoulder, over my head. When he is settled I knot the sash securely around him and he sleeps in perfect contentment.

Although he is perfectly secure and I add my arms to support him, as soon as I stand up he panics and will not remain within his safe wrappings, even though my arms are about him. I cannot compel him to remain and he leaves, unwilling to remain and go where I go.

How often do we do the same thing? We have come unto God and are wrapped in His arms, safe in his bosom, secure in His love and watchcare. Then God, still holding us close, desires to take us to another place and a different challenge, and we panic, choosing to leave the safety of His embrace.

God did not cease to watch over and care for us. He would have continued to hold us secure and safe, but we would not. We, like Peter, saw the place where we were and lost our trust in God's care.

Let us remember that His arms are always open to us. While we rest securely there we may still have challenges, but can always know that He is with us and we are His.