Be Prepared

"So they prepared the Passover" (Luke 22:13).

I will be the first to admit that I don't prepare well. I usually forget something when I pack for a trip, I don't make lists of any kind and I generally procrastinate. "Prepared" is not an adjective I would use to describe me. The Boy Scouts of America's official motto is "Be Prepared," but being a boy scout for a few years did not instill me with a love for preparation.

And yet, there is something stirring in this little verse in Luke 22:13 on preparing the Passover. This year, at our church, we celebrated the Passover meal together with a couple other churches. And as I prepared the Passover, I thought about what each element would mean. I thought about the charoset and its sweet goodness, which was to symbolize the sweetness of God's gifts. Even the process of making it was fun and full of laughter.

Then there came the horseradish and the salt water and the bitter herbs. Although I love horseradish, the salt water and bitter herbs were a bit much. And laying them out while filling small dishes with salt, I recognized that people would not enjoy eating these foods. Then again, life is sometimes like that, we are fed meals we would prefer not to eat. Or as Jesus said, we are given cups from which we would rather not drink.

Preparing for the Passover is a meaningful time. And I think we are meant to have meaningful time in our lives- times where we step back and really think about what is going on around us. The first two weeks of June have flown by, and summer will probably see more of that hurried pace. But maybe, just as the disciples contemplated each piece of the Passover meal, we too can take on a reflective pace to see all the good that God is doing around us.