“Gird your loins and light your lamps.”

In other words, “get ready,” or “be prepared.”

What does it mean to be prepared? My dad grew up in the Boy Scouts, so as kids we were often reminded of the Scout motto to “be prepared.” I internalized this to mean making sure I had a fully stocked emergency kit in my car, taking a rain coat every day “just in case,” and strapping an elephant-sized bag on my  back whenever I went hiking. But what I missed in the undercurrent was that my dad knew how to do everything, could fix anything, and was always thinking five steps ahead. The flint in your pack won’t light a fire if you haven’t practiced with it first. That broken pole won’t support your tent if you can’t understand how to piece it back together.

There are the physical check-list style preparations, and then there are the adaptability preparations, which my dad had spent years at Scout meetings and camps practicing. Adaptability requires time, effort, and energy. It requires planning ahead, considering different possibilities, experiencing failures and learning from them, and seeing things from alternative perspectives.

Olympic medalist Michael Phelps is a prime example of this: Phelps won gold in the 2008 200-meter butterfly with his eyes closed due to a leaky goggle. Hundredths of a second can mean the difference between gold and last place, and with only one chance to win, Phelps was prepared: during training his coach had given him scenarios that he had to overcome. Yes, Phelps practiced to build up his strength and speed, but he also practiced to build up his adaptability.

When it comes to our faith, maybe we need to be thinking about preparation more in terms of adaptability and nimbleness instead of as a perfect mold we are trying to bend into. If we want people to be ready…for Jesus’ return, for being kingdom-builders, and/or for living out God’s call upon our lives, then we need to put in our time, effort, and energy into becoming adaptable and nimble Christians. We aren’t supposed to dig in our heels on some checklist of faith, we’re supposed to read scripture in an effort to understand Jesus, we’re supposed to get out in the world and live the gospel in today’s environment, and we’re even supposed to fail and grow.

In Luke 12, Jesus is saying that the servants have to be adaptable and nimble. They can’t just set food out with a note that says “serve yourself” and go to sleep; they are to be prepared to host a full meal at a moment’s notice, even in the middle of the night. Anyone who has prepared an elaborate meal for others knows that there are constant mental gymnastics to get everything ready, hot, and on the table at just the right time. The more often this is done, the easier it gets. The more often we practice being adaptable and nimble Christians, the easier it gets. The more often we prepare ourselves for being adaptable servants in doing God’s work, the more we understand what it means to follow Christ.