Preparation
“Give me
six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four
sharpening the ax.”
Abraham
Lincoln
Ah, preparation. So
important. One of my sons is taking the GMAT exam today. He's studied
and taken the practice tests and now feels “almost ready.” It's
always a bit nerve wracking to take an exam no matter how much you
prepare. Nobody wants a do-over, right. The painters who've been
working in my house did a great job except for a couple of
things—they entirely missed the backstop for the stove. I don't
know how this happened since it now looks completely alien in the all
white kitchen; it's hard to miss. The other thing is ruffled paint on
a couple of drawer faces—just a failure to sand them well enough.
Now they will get that do-over that I don't think will make anyone
happy.
Benjamin Franklin said,
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This is true in most aspects of life. There are very few things that can
be done in a slap-dash way that will have a successful outcome.
Whether it's scraping food off the dinner plates before putting them
in the dishwasher, treating a stain on your clothing before washing
it, or reading the fine print on a contract before you sign
it—preparation makes a difference. On the other hand, hesitating
too long can also have unfortunate consequences. Making decisions is
hard for some of us, and we tend to be either overly cautious or
impulsive—neither of which is optimal.
Randy Pausch, author of
The Last Lecture, had a test he called “the eaten by wolves
factor,” when making decisions. He was an eternal optimist, but
when he had a difficult decision to make, he went pessimistic. “If
I do this,” he would ask himself, “what is the most terrible
thing that could happen? Would I be eaten by wolves?” According to
him, the thing that allows one to be optimistic is having a good
contingency plan if “all hell breaks loose.” Contingency
plans require preparation.
I like to ask the
open-ended questions that begin with how, what, where, when, and who.
Gathering factual information is essential to good decision making—as
Sgt. Joe Friday would say, “Just the facts, ma'am.” These same
questions can (and should) be applied to one's spiritual life. We
should ask questions and explore answers until we feel confident that
our beliefs are a reflection of us. Being condemned for asking
questions is evidence, at least to me, that something is being hidden
because it cannot stand up to the light of day. It will not pass the
sniff test. If you are being told that you cannot question your
religion's tenets, if you are not allowed to doubt without
condemnation, then something is wrong. If all hell breaks loose
because you reject something you're being told, have a good
contingency plan—get out of there! Your spiritual life is between
your Soul, and the Source. No one else, no matter what hat or collar they wear, has the right to tell you what
to believe.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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