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Complacency: Enemy to Preparedness; Originally posted by aftv2005
Topic Started: May 27 2009, 11:22 PM (323 Views)
CindyLou62

In part one of this series, debt was identified as the number one enemy to preparedness. Unfortunately, it is not the only one. Now comes number two: complacency.

We all know what the alternative is to survival. That's why we're here. We believe that there are going to be hard times ahead. We believe that there might come an actual collapse of society and a breakdown of the rule of law. We honestly believe that possibly in our lifetimes and certainly in our children's lifetimes that we may find ourselves in something of a pre-industrial age, totally dependent upon what we ourselves can produce to survive.

We want to survive and we want our loved ones to survive. To be sure, our intentions are good, but we must ask ourselves if we are really living up to those intentions. Is preparedness really a priority in our lives or are we merely paying lip service to it? Are we stocking up on food and water and saving seeds and learning how to grow things and take care of livestock? Are we learning trades that we will need...carpentry, mechanics, plumbing and the like? Are we securing the tools we would need to use these trades? No doubt most of us are not short on weapons and ammo, but what about the rest? Are we networking with friends and relatives and pooling resources and making plans or does the monthly FTX take the place of that?

It's very similar to another area of our lives where too often we fall short of doing all that we can do to try to insure the favorable outcome we would like. Those of us who are Christians believe that unless we are saved, we will not see Heaven when we die. We truly believe this, yet how many of us make it a priority to pray for the unsaved and minister to the lost? Are we doing all we can to raise our children to fear God and obey his commandments? If we are really honest with ourselves, we will admit our shortcomings. There is always room for improvement without exceptions. None of us are perfect, but the reality is that we need a LOT of improvement.

So what is it that keeps us from doing what we need to do to try and insure the survival of ourselves and our children and even their very salvation? What is the enemy that tosses our good intentions out the window and makes a mockery of what we say that we truly believe? The enemy is complacency...more precisely, a false complacency.

To be complacent is to be satisfied, content and unconcerned. We allow ourselves to be lulled into periods of doubt, however brief and miniscule that doubt might be. We may not even recognize them. On the other hand, they may take the form of sudden thoughts that sneak into our consciousness such as: "It won't happen to me." "Things aren't as bad as they say." "I'm worrying for nothing." "God wouldn't really let someone go to hell." Not too many people can deny a familiarity with these little tunes.

When snapped out of our complacency, we recognize that it is a false satisfaction and lack of concern. We know what we believe and those little records are contrary to those beliefs and just outright lies. So where do they come from? No doubt that Satan has some of those in his collection of golden oldies to spin, but maybe it also comes from our psyche as something of a defense mechanism. There certainly is enough happening in the world to invoke anxiety in all of us.

It really doesn't matter so much where the doubts come from. What matters is that we recognize the damage they can do by creating that false complacency. Complacency is the first turn in that downward spiral that leads to procrastination, apathy and maybe eventual denial. The vortex of the spiral is NOT where we want to end up.

If you're expecting the magic formula for escaping the ride on the downward spiral, it won't be forthcoming. If there were a magic formula, we would all have conquered our bad habits and be free of all the addictions that hold us captive. No doubt we would be prime examples of health and wealth and virtue.

So what's the point if there is no solution? The point is to remind us all that we must be on guard for the things that hold us back and keep us from doing what we should be doing. It's to remind us that we will never reach perfection in this lifetime, but that we are to continue to run the race. If we fall, we are to get back up. We are not to let the "if onlys" slow us down and we are never to stop to listen to those records that will sabotage our efforts. We are not to wallow in the puddle of regret; for yesterday is behind us and nothing can be done about it. We must live in the present...the here and now...and it's a much better race day than tomorrow might be.

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