Growing up in Uganda, all through high school I was active in scouting. I was a Patrol Leader of one of the best Patrols in the country and in East Africa. We won District Championships, National Championships, and represented Uganda in the East Africa Regional Scout Championships in Nairobi, Kenya. Scouting teaches young people cooperation, integrity, belief, respect, innovation, organization, and care for others. The founders of the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides movements, Lord Baden Powell and Lady Olave Baden Powell, are buried in Nyeri, Kenya. It is in Kenya where they settled in the evening of their lives and eventually rested and were buried.
The motto of the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides movements is “Be Prepared.” The idea was to prepare young people in body, mind, heart, and spirit to take on the challenges of life. Through fun, value-based programs young people would be prepared to react to emergencies, to respond to different service needs, to offer leadership where there was a need, and to handle anything that life would put in front of them. Millions of young people have been beneficiaries of the practical pedagogy used in scouting.
Not the End of the Story
In Luke's Gospel, Jesus tells all his followers to spiritually “Be Prepared”—for they do not know when life will come to an end. Jesus says, “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.” He addresses an eschatological theme, speaking about the end times—the end of our physical life here on earth, and the end of the world as we know it now and at Jesus’ Second Coming. These are matters we rarely speak about, or intentionally avoid, because they make us uncomfortable. From a Christian worldview, we believe this life is not the end of our story, that there is an eternity for which we need to prepare by the way we live our current life.
Spiritual Preparation
Spiritually preparing oneself involves an active prayer life, a regular sacramental life, embracing a charitable attitude, and extending charity to those on the margins. St John of the Cross observed that the best form of preparation is simply to love. He said that in the evening of our lives “we will be judged by how much we loved.” This does not have to be a BIG LOVE or anything grand, rather even simple acts of love can accumulate and add up to something meaningful in the eyes of God. We can start such acts of love through simply loving our family members, our neighbors, and our co-workers. It does not necessarily have to be too grand. God provides different opportunities for us to spiritually prepare ourselves.
Today is a good day for each one of us to ask ourselves, how prepared am I to stand before the Lord and give an account of my life? How much have I loved God and how much have I loved my neighbor?
May the Lord constantly remind us of our purpose in life and what really matters in this current life.
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