Being Prepared

I have been pretty sick for the past couple of days. Some stomach issues that are especially bothersome at night have forced me to spend most of the last three nights kneeling at the base of the toilet, preventing me from sleeping, and I haven't been able to eat anything but toast since Saturday night. Finally, late last night things seemed to calm down. I was able to sleep a little, and got up early this morning, feeling energized and hungry.

I had a great study time, ate a bowl of oatmeal, and thought I would rest for a little while before doing fun things like laundry and dishes. When I got up, I threw a load of towels in the wash and turned on the TV to watch a movie while I folded laundry.

Suddenly there was a strange noise in my house that sounded like an alarm going off. I realized that the power had just gone off. Normally this would have been a bit of a nuisance to have no power for a little while, but I remembered a letter I'd received sometime last week. This letter informed me that on Wednesday, December 17th, from 10 am to 2 pm, the power in my area would be shut off for some maintenance work.

Four whole hours I would be without power on my last day off before Christmas. I was mad at myself for forgetting about the letter and forgetting it was Wednesday and not planning ahead. I was even mad that they'd only told me once about the power. This is a busy time for me. How was I expected to remember with only one reminder?

As I figured out which activities I could do without power (since I do dishes like the pioneers, that was my first project.), I started thinking more about being prepared. It's more than just 72 hour kits and supplies of food. I need to be prepared temporally as well as spiritually.

I have a long way to go to make sure that happens. The silly power outage today was a reminder that I can't procrastinate.