If someone approached you and told you « to prepare for hardship » would you listen or would you wait until you were caught up in struggle to say « I should have believed him or her? » If it were true that people couldn’t predict the future then, why would the Jewish and Christian Church have wasted space, time and paper to give sacred books with countless stories about seers, dreamers and healers who could advise the kings and people of what’s to come? Why would the Mayan people have bothered with prophecies surviving even their own empire? Are we so arrogant, so fearful or so mistrusting that we are not able to see that the visions of the ancients are manifesting as we speak? And why haven’t we yet figured out that perhaps the Prophets of yesterday cared enough for the people of tomorrow to send them word of what was to come so « that they would prepare. »
What have you prepared for lately?
In the last month I’ve watched people prepare for dates; prepare for exams; prepare for work or meetings; prepare to hand in a thesis; prepare for medical tests; prepare for interviews; prepare for the arrival of a new born etc… And still almost 8 out of 10 of these people have told me that they didn’t feel prepared enough to handle whatever life threw their way. We’ve been in touch with medical doctors in Mexico, family members to a close friend, who have been handling this horrible virus these past few months; and their first comments were: “we weren’t ready, we weren’t prepared for this epidemic flu.” I remember how the medical personnel in Toronto during the SCARS threat last year said the same thing: “We just weren’t ready for anything like this…”
It’s clear that in our Western world – “being prepared” isn’t something we do well. We don’t prevent disease we handle it once it’s there. No matter how much we talk about the risk of drinking and driving or taking drugs – people still do it. People still smoke even if they know that they might get cancer. Knowing what could happen doesn’t seem to guide people to make other choices or better decisions for themselves and the next seven generations. If it did I don’t think we would be in such an awful predicament when it comes to our environment, to Mother Earth.
Preparing for rainy days is an individual choice. We obviously can’t convince others to change their minds but we certainly can change our own path just by changing our own attitudes or perspectives. It’s not an easy thing to change our perceptions and that’s probably why so many people don’t do it. It takes courage, perseverance and faith to prepare for the unknown. I guess the real question is “what does it mean to prepare?”
When you follow the path of the sacred circle – you learn that preparing for the unknown is not about knowing everything about it but about being secure, strong and confident about the role you have to play in it. Yes, it certainly demands more effort and more time looking at yourself and finding wholeness where there may have been emptiness before. Still, in the end, you’re not the only one who benefits from this work but everyone else around you does too. Believe it or not we can be contagious in good thoughts, good choices, and good attitudes. Why convert when you can guide and show the way?
What have you prepared for today?
**Inspired by the book THIRTEENTH by L.A. Banks. Just a reminder if you want to read this book you need to consider that it is the last book in a series of 13 books. I strongly encourage those who feel called to read this story to start from book one.
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