My twelve-year-old granddaughter has been busy setting the stage, especially her desk, for school to start. We receive face-time calls from her almost every day with a running commentary on the welfare of her two dogs, one illusive cat, and her new favorite pet, a gecko! We savor these phone calls and hope they never end, but who am I kidding?! Teenage years are right around the corner. But I digress!
She is transitioning her desk from summer-time projects with stacks of drawing paper and a carousel of colored markers and pencils to school-time homework with stacks of color coordinated folders and spirals. She is setting the stage and is prepared!
I too have designated spots in which I do my “homework,” depending on the weather. First, is my comfy cubby-hole wedged between bookshelves in my tiny office whose window frames the birdfeeder hanging from the Japanese Maple outside. Here, I read and write my pre-dawn thoughts. Second, is my small writing desk jutted up against the floor-to-ceiling living room picture window from where I see the whole backyard panorama. Last, is the back porch daybed or porch swing, weather permitting. I set the stage for writing and I’m prepared.
All this pre-emptive preparation of mine and hers stirs up a question in my heart.
How meticulously do I prepare for life’s anticipated moments whether mundane or spectacular? Do I set the stage of my heart to recognize and appreciate such moments?
Sometimes, I’m so busy checking off items on my “to-do” list that my tunnel vision struggles to look up and out. Each of us has our own idiosyncratic ways to prepare: through a camera lens, stacks of books to read, a spiral notebook and several jell pens, a garage full of sports paraphenalia, a piano bench bursting with sheet music, an easel and array of paint tubes and brushes, a woodshop with assorted tools and lumber, a kitchen full of exquisite dishes and utensils, a garden shed lined with worn-out shovels and rakes, . . .The list is endless!
Don’t neglect preparing for your own creativity-packed spiritual moments. Even in the activity of preparation, you will find joy! Be at the ready. Meet your moments with curious anticipation.
Are you prepared? Have you set your stage?
In a large house, there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay . . If a man cleanses himself, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy and useful, prepared to do any good work.