Preparedness is a difficult thing for me. I’m distractible, which leads to the disorganization of things that need to have been organized prior to a given moment. At the same time, because I don’t rigidly organize my world, I have much freedom to move with the current of life. That having been said, am I a fish in the current, or am I the riverbed finding itself daily eroded?

I’ve always wanted to be on top of things when it comes to this blog. I want to be free to move with the current, but then I also want to know that the current I’m surrendering to is taking me somewhere good. I don’t want to be at the mercy of my environment, which can be merciless, interestingly enough. I don’t like to half-do things, but because of my tendency toward minimal rigidity, I find myself doing exactly what I don’t want to do. (This must be how Paul felt while writing Romans 7.) Unfortunately, that affects my blogging by making my posting frequency inconsistent despite a mile-high stack of drafts.

I recently discovered this magical little feature called “scheduled posting.” Now that I know about this, I don’t really have an excuse. I can keep writing drafts, but when I finish them, I can schedule them to publish as far in advance as I decide. I don’t have to worry about setting deadlines for myself if I just set things up ahead of schedule, then stick to that schedule. I can take writing breaks when I need to take them without worrying about falling too far behind the flow. What that means for you, reader, is that I’m going to be working behind the scenes, planning ahead, and though you might not see much out of this blog for the next few weeks, when you finally start seeing me post again, expect much.

It’s not just the blog that frustrates me, though. Unfortunately, this chaos tends to invade many areas of my life–yes, my bedroom is a total mess–but by knowing ahead of time what should be happening, maybe this chaos will be brought into check. This cannot happen without God’s help, though. Ultimately, the fact that I don’t plan ahead, which leads to unpreparedness, tells me that I don’t trust God to help me if those plans fail. After all, how can I be disappointed by failed plans if I don’t make them? But then how can I truly say I trust God unless I step out on that limb? I don’t know the future. For all I know, I could lose everything and it not even be because of anything I’ve done, but why should I just do nothing? Why not take risks? Why not make investments? Why not build relationships? Why not ask for God to build His kingdom in me?

If I don’t make myself ready for things to come, when they come, they will either pass me by or knock me down. It’s time to brace myself. It’s a big future in a big world with a big God.