Can you believe it is August 1!?

The summer days are long but the weeks and months seem to have flown by! And with a few weeks until schools start back up, this is a PERFECT TIME to prepare for what is to come. (And, yes, you can prepare for the busy-ness of school and work from a pool float. And if you’d like to invite your pastors over, that would be most appreciated, ha.)

How do we prepare for what is to come?

As with anything in life, some things pop up out of nowhere (like a church water main breaking while you’re on a mission trip across the country), and those around the problem run to help (thank you, guys!). Other times, we have this brief time to prepare for what is to come, even if we don’t know exactly what will be happening. And this is a gift we should take advantage of!

Several years back, I started Meal Prepping on Sundays. While I didn’t know exactly how the week would evolve, I did know there was food I could grab and go in the busyness of it all. It worked…sort of. Sunday afternoons looked like:

• Grocery shop (after a power nap post-church)
• Wash and chop veggies and fruit
• Prep my smoothies, oats or make a frittata for breakfast
• Put together 2-3 meals for lunches and dinners, rushing around before our weekly Sunday night bigger family dinner.

And the prep helped! However, by the time Thursday came around, I was tired, hangry and out of prepared meals and food ideas. So we scrambled to grab (unhealthy but tasty) food that made us feel pretty awful later. While we did eat, we had not prepared fully for the week. So following through to the end (or at least until the weekend) is pretty important!

The Follow-Through

What can you expect to happen this Fall? Perhaps write down in your calendar (digital or paper) some of these AND add notes or things you can do to mentally/emotionally/spritually prepare for those events:

• Anything new coming up, like work/school projects, family trips or events? Anything out of the ordinary?
• Holidays are on the horizon – how can you mentally and emotionally prepare for busy days or emotional times? How will you react to seeing a certain person or even the newly empty chair at the family’s holiday table? Pray for God’s presence as you think this through, and lean on loved ones.
• Typical Weeks – what is one thing you can do this Fall to make life easier? (like Meal Prep, or drinking more water, or just remembering to check your calendar each morning before leaving home)
• Weird Season – for some of us, it might be a weird season. Perhaps you are starting college for the first time, or maybe it’s a job transition, even a health transition as you try to heal or investigate what is going on with your body. Give yourself grace and acknowledge that this is a SEASON on the calendar and (most likely) not forever. Reach out for support.

Making Life Easier

Plainly put, we all know Life Can Be Hard. Yet planning some before a season begins and putting some things in place to make your life a bit easier will trickle to your stress levels lowering, being more present with your loves ones and having more time present in the Wonder of God and God’s Creation. I hope each of us can take a little time to think about the Fall, even if we are still basking in the 96-degree Summer heat today.

Now I’m not sure if Jesus would have meal prepped (probably not, as he didn’t even have a kitchen). Yet I do know he spent time preparing his mind and heart for what was to come. (We have so many instances of this when he went off to pray, he congregated with trusted friends/advisors, and he took his time to “answer” someone–with a question.) And preparing for the next season is a simple way we can do the same. 1st Peter 3:13-16a talks about preparing ourselves for what (and who) is to come: ¹³ Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear,^[b] and do not be intimidated, ¹⁵ but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you; ¹⁶ yet do it with gentleness and reverence.

Happy Monday, friends!

~Laurel

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Coming Up:

August Mission Project:

• school supplies collection for Center Schools
  • Most needed items: backpacks (do NOT have to be clear) for elementary aged students, glue sticks, crayons (Crayola brand, please), pre-sharpened pencils.

Summer Movie Night:

• Friday, August 19 – time TBA
• A fun last hoorah to summer, with snacks, stars and lots of super awesome cinema! Family-friendly for all ages. Friends are welcome, and this is a Free event.