For those in Houston, it was a much worse story. As the storm progressed, my friends there grew increasingly worried. Their Facebook posts went from “Wow this rain is heavy” to “I am scared! There is water in the house!”
This quote by Patti Brown from our latest HelloMornings Bible study, Power of the Spirit sums up where I DON’T want to be if we were ever in a dire situation. The quote goes into the topic of sharing the good news of being rescued and telling our stories which are slightly unrelated to my topic at hand. I do know there are many things we can not prepare ourselves for but I believe we are to be diligent in what we can prepare for so that we can deal with things of greater concern if/when the needs arise.
We have these podcast episodes where we learn people who knew the storm was coming but still didn’t prepare were “stuck” (literally!) in less-than-ideal situations. If you get nothing from my blog post, please do make sure to listen to Kathi and Erin’s episodes about The Clutter Free Emergency Prep Kit >>> Part 1 + Part 2 <<<. They have some great, useful information about what we actually need and how to make it clutter free! Love the quote below too!
Urgent vs. Important
I’ve been thinking a lot about urgent and important recently. I tend to do many more urgent things than important things and I think that can become a problem if it’s not one already. Yikes! And even more recently, I have had emergency planning on my mind, not for any particular reason. Yes, there are real concerns of natural disasters and such, but mostly because it’s one of those things that we put off for later because it’s not urgent. I have people to feed and bills to pay and laundry and discipleship group and books to read 😉 and so on.
All or Nothing
Now, if you know my personality, you know I’m not spontaneous, like at all. If a natural disaster were to spring up on me unannounced like they usually do, I would not be a happy camper. AND if you know my personality, you know I tend to be an all-or-nothing kinda gal, which means unless I can put my all into it, I do nothing. So I look at all those emergency preparedness things that tell you to make sure to store X# of days of such and such foods and items that I don’t have and don’t really care to track the expiration dates for, and the OVERWHELM comes over me.
That brings me to today…or the end of last year really when I was sick and had quite a bit of time to think and reflect. This adulting thing is hard work. It’s not easy. It’s challenging. Then you throw kiddos into the mix and it just gets confusing and complicated. I mean, there are so many times of beautiful and wonderful moments too but times are rough. If you have any connection with the outside world, you know “when I was your age” things were not the same as they are now.
Some is Better Than None
These past few months I have of living more intentionally and prayerfully has brought me a little more focus and a WHOLE LOT MORE peace. In order to stay on track (unless God calls me to something else), I have a number of things I want to complete this year. One of them is related to emergency preparedness. I’m still slightly overwhelmed with the number of things I’m supposed to do and have on hand, but I’m heading back to a motto I’ve had in the past…”some is better than none.” If I can have a few gallons of water, some important documents photocopied, and a first aid kit ready to go, that’s better than having nothing if we ever needed it.
I’ll be going through an Emergency Preparedness Challenge of sorts in my new Work-in-Progress Moms group, so if mixing up a bit of encouraging support and practical action is up your alley, read this post and join me! I’ll be closing the group up by the end of the month and doing some fun giveaways too.
Your Turn
I’d love to know your thoughts on emergency preparedness.
Do you think we need to be prepared? Do you have a family emergency plan? Have you thought about your plan for small emergencies like power outages? What questions do you have about getting prepared? Any stories to share?