Prepare and Win or Prepare to Lose

And when it was being built, the house was built of stone made ready beforehand. (1Kings 6:7).

It is easy, very easy indeed, to applaud excellent work in any given field. Sometimes we are tempted to think that the excellent work is an act of extraordinary genius that cannot be replicated but all too often that is far from the truth. Excellence is often a result of hours, days, months, sometimes, years of preparation. While the preparation is going on it is scarcely celebrated, if at all noticed, by people but the brief moment of success is resounded by many. King Solomon once advised, “Prepare your work outside, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterwards build your house” (Proverbs 24:27). 

Preparation is not easy but makes your work easy. It cuts-out all the excesses, makes your work less cumbersome, and certainly, it is cheaper on the long run than when you are not prepared.

Many think they have no opportunities but they do have daily opportunities, which come disguised in the cloaks of:

-          - Talents and gifts.

-          - People.

-          - Problems and difficult circumstances.

The average folk has loads of the above daily. This means opportunities come but how prepared are we to meet them?

Let’s say, for example, that you are a gardener who loves everything about grapes – its taste, its look, its feel – and would want to have some fresh home-made wine. You would only be able to achieve this today if you planted your grapes two years earlier. Without that preparation I’d suggest you buy a bottle of wine in the nearest kiosk. Nonetheless if you would make yours in two years then you should rise and plant today!

Preparation is difficult – indeed painful sometimes – but it is inevitable if you would have predictable success in the days ahead.