Be Ready . . .

Does it seem many are really putting on the emphasis to be ready?  There are signs around us that clearly indicate we need to be preparing, while we are looking up!  Rather than ask for signs, we are called to discern, but even more importantly, keep our eyes on Messiah.  If we are following Him, we won't get off the narrow path.

Every season here on the homestead requires a different kind of preparation.  Scripture tells us "to everything there is a season."  It is my belief that we have been in the harvest season, spiritually, since Messiah said the field was white unto harvest.  I see many are preparing as we come into yet another season.  I feel compelled to definitely sound the warning on behalf of the land.  There are a number of folks sounding other shofars of warning, but my urgency is in regard to the land.

This is the last garden season before the land is to rest.  If YHWH causes the land to rest, with or without our preparation, we could be in for a very rude awakening.   I think my preparation for the new kids arrival gives a very good image of how we are to prepare for tribulation in the end of days, and Messiah's return.

I keep my buck goats away from the herd nine months of the year.  If the two bucks are kept separate from the does, they do not fight and tear up fence continuously.  If they are in with the does, there is a continual competition between them.  They also give the milk a strange whang, so for the milking season, they remain to the north, and the wind is rarely from the north in spring, summer, and early fall.

Now to the preparation.  Since I am aware of the three months the bucks are with the does, I have a general idea of when the kids will arrive.  There is no excuse for me to be "unprepared."  Interestingly I use the Hebrew calendar in breeding and preparation.  I introduce the bucks the day after Yom Teruah and they remain with the does until the end of Hanukkah.  The harshest month of winter, I have no worries, other than cracking ice.  Six weeks after I remove the bucks, I prepare the birthing houses.  That way, the straw isn't over used and worn down, and the houses aren't dirty, and usually the coldest weather of the winter is behind us.

There are enough of these little birthing sheds for each expectant mother to have her own "house."   They are close to the feed and water in both pastures.

 Being ready is to have our house in order.