Prepared, what?

Sometimes I feel I am very prepared. Other times I think to myself, "Did someone say prepared...oh, ya I've heard of that before." So when we had a power outage that lasted for several hours the other night I was reminded of how much distance I have let come between me and the word prepared. No electricity hit me hard. I had laundry and dishes to do, not to mention no food and no way to cook all my unprepared foods. Really, that didn't put me over the edge of pushing me past my laziness and false security enough to get back on the preparedmobile. I pulled out the flashlights, and all the batteries were dead. The new flashlights I had purchased in my quest to be more prepared were still unopened in the package and of course without batteries. So, with only the light left of dying flashlights, no food and no clean clothes, I realized I better face the reality I am not prepared. And, as a mother for some reason or another this hit particularly hard as I wondered what I would feed my family. I felt I was not being responsible. In the past, when reminded of my not so great preparedness skills, I just pushed aside my guilty feelings and figured if I got in a tough spot I knew better and deserved it. This particular night I didn't feel this callousness, I felt extreme guilt. I knew I was responsible to care for my kids and not being prepared was not only affecting me, but my family as well, which is just not right. After feeling guilty for awhile. I made a new shopping list to get our home back on track. Hopefully slowly but surely we will get a home of order that can withstand the expected storms. Then my mind wandered and I thought, would I have done anything if I had never experienced this storm? Probably not. So, I am grateful for the small storms that prepare me for the greater storms. And, as you have probably guessed, I feel that way about life as well. I am glad we have a kind God who teaches us a small storm at a time, so we will be well prepared for the big storms of life.