Be Watchful

You never know what tomorrow brings. This was the case played out this past week in our host parish of Tarpon Springs. One day Hurricane Ian was headed straight for us, and the next we were safe while others took cover. Living in Florida I have come to terms with ‘leaving it all behind’ every time I leave the house to shelter for a hurricane. We never know if our house will even remain the next day.

Thankfully, ‘the worst’ rarely happens. It doesn’t mean we don’t need to be prepared, but by the grace of God, the worst is rare. We need to be able to transfer this perspective to our spiritual journey. We need to wake up every morning like tomorrow won’t exist. Just as we are more tunned in to the weather when a storm approaches, we will be more tuned in to God when we think He is approaching.

The Lord said, “Watch, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.”

Matthew 24.42-47

It is what makes natural disasters extra stressful. We see them coming when they are weather related, and we take shelter. I know a man who just experienced his first hurricane. After the storm passed, he recognized the huge amount of stress leading up to the storm. Then, once it passed with very little fanfare in our town, he felt a huge sense of relief.

What if we lived life like every day we were face to face with hurricane? How would it change our lives? I like to think we would be more prepared at first. We may even thin out our material lives a bit to avoid the emotion of “I may never see that item again.” But if the storm NEVER comes, we get lazy. We begin collecting material clutter again. We stop being constantly prepared.

It is those moments when the worst tends to come, and we lose everything. Christ was warning us about this when He said, “If the householder had known….therefore you also must be ready.” Christ wasn’t talking about houses; He was talking about our soul.

We must learn to live as if the worst is coming at any moment. We must prepare our soul for the instant the body is no longer united to our soul. That moment of death will come as a thief in the night, not a long watched hurricane.

With this most recent hurricane I noticed I got lazy. I wasn’t prepared for the worst. I prepared for normal. In Tarpon Springs that has always meant the hurricane moved away. Someday it will come, and I need to be prepared. Someday Christ will come, and I REALLY need to be prepared. This storm I was lucky. I pray I won’t be caught off guard next time. I pray I won’t be surprised when Christ comes calling, and I’m still not prepared.