A "BE" Attitude For The Christian Writer

A "BE" Attitude For The Christian Writer 01/26/2010

Be Prepared!
An excerpt from: The Be Attitudes of a Christian Writer©
by Shirley Francis-Salley

It’s 4:00 A.M. Your eyes pop open automatically. You lay there giving the cobwebs a moment to untangle themselves from your brain and then it hits you. Sweet inspiration comes riding in on a cloud from on high with a precious morsel to be penned. You know you’ve got to get this down because sometimes it’s only there in that certain way for a fleeting moment.

You reach for your mini netbook but it is dead. You haven’t charged it in two days. Frantically your eyes pan your surroundings and you spot your voice recorder. Then you remember, you meant to buy batteries last night but you forgot. By now you’re trying to say the idea over and over again. You don’t want to lose it. And then, you spot your trusty pad and pen. You grab them and the vision becomes words that flow from your pen and are carried by a river of ink that soaks up the dryness of a blank sheet of paper. Whew! That was close! You could have lost that thought or the opportunity to create at that very moment!

There is nothing like basking in the happiness of having been prepared for the successes that opportunity brings when it knocks on our doors. But what about the times when the knock at the door isn’t bringing happiness or success with it? What about the times when the knock on the door is that of Mr. and Mrs. Trouble and their bratty children, Frustration, Difficulty and Pain, and they’ve shown up on the doorsteps of our lives, hell-bent on wreaking havoc in our homes? Didn’t Jesus tell us that in this world we would have many trials and sorrows? (John 16:33, New Living Translation Bible)

Are we prepared for these opportunities? One might ask why connotations depicting unfavorable circumstances would be linked to the word opportunity, after all, it’s such a positive word! Here’s why: God’s word says that He causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28 NLT). These words are an anchor for us when we are like storm-tossed ships caught in the billows on the sea of suffering.

Sometimes we suffer as a result of our choices and actions, and there are times that God calls us to it; either way we have to prepare. While Jesus said we’d have trouble, He also said that we should take heart, for He has overcome the world (John 16:33 NLT).

Remember: When we fail to prepare we prepare to fail! (Benjamin Franklin)