"Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. "Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. "For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them" (Matt 25:1-3) Everything we do in life is a choice; some of us just don't know or they simply choose to ignore. But ignoring the facts doesn't change them or diminish their effects, it only makes us seem foolish. You can never predict to perfection what the next minute will bring; and while preparation does not necessarily guarantee you will always do it right, it does afford you the opportunity of approaching the situation with confidence. People who suffer performance anxiety have been known to remedy their situation by spending more time in preparation. In fact, the more time you spend in preparation, the better your chances of getting it right when you actually do it! Growing up as a musician, one of the greatest advice I ever received was, "You will always perform less better than you did at practice". That advice made me a practice freak, and a preparation addict. I would spend hours trying to out-perform myself so that if I happen to perform less better on stage than I did at practice I will still be within the safe zone. I can't say this enough so I am going to just say it again, "If you want to do well, prepare". It is that simple!.
Most people spend their lives wishing they had a better job, a better marriage, a better result in examination; but wishes never got anybody anywhere unless you happen to chance upon a magical genee that can grant your wishes. The way to do better, perform better, be better is to prepare better. A lot of young people today have no idea that everything they are doing is a preparation for their adult life. The only question is how prepared are they going to be.
Jesus told a story of ten virgins who had to attend a wedding which required they come with a lamp. In Jesus' own words, five of them were wise because they were better prepared than the other five. They took the liberty of bringing extra oil just in case their oil ran out... and it did ran out. The other foolish five didn't do anything wrong except maybe trusting their predictive ability and believing that things will always turn out fine. Guess what, it didn't turn out fine for them. Sometimes preparation may just entail sitting down for a minute or two and figuring out what you might need. I know you have your dreams and things you want to achieve this year. But how prepared are you for the unexpected? Sometimes a good preparation just means having a contingency plan, a back up plan just in case the first plan doesn't work. Always be prepared, it is the wise choice!