My mom has taught me many things over the years. She taught me to always keep one hand clean while mixing things (bread, pie crust, and meatloaf) with your hands because you never know when the phone might ring.

She taught me how to parallel park between two real cars on a real street, no orange cone practice beforehand, because you never know when you are going to be in a big city and need to know how to parallel park.

She taught me how to iron clothes because my husband might need wrinkle free clothes one day.

She taught me (by her example) how to have a love for my husband that will never fail because you never know what health issues will arise over the years. 

She taught me many other things, but these lessons tend to stick out in my mind. Throughout these lessons she was teaching me to be prepared. She wanted to be Girl Scout growing up. I remember her holding up her three fingers and saying “be prepared”. That’s probably why I carry so much stuff in my purse. The lesson she has instilled in me has stuck and is being passed down to my kids now. But it’s not really super important for me to keep a hand clean while mixing things. I can easily scrub the sticky dough off the receiver. But it is more convenient.

I can easily keep driving around the block until I can find a parking spot to pull into. Parallel parking, if executed properly, is more convenient.

Those wrinkled clothes? Well, they can be tossed in the dryer to get most of the wrinkles out.

The one “be prepared” lesson that I know I can’t try to change is the love for my husband. I know society plays a big role in trying to get us to see marriage their way, but their way isn’t God’s way.

God instituted marriage way back in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:18-25). Husband and wife are to cleave to each other. That means when things get tough, when the health fades, when the money gets tight, when the sorrows come they will make our bond stronger. The stronger that bond is the harder it will be to separate us when more pressures come. The relationship between a husband and wife is one that God cares a lot about.

Read Ephesians 5:22-33. Read 1 Peter 3:1-7. Read Colossians 3:18-19.

God cares enough about marriage to give us a pattern to follow. We have to be willing to follow that pattern and to have the mindset of being prepared, determined, and willing to cleave and never leave and to teach our children the same lesson (Titus 2:3-5).

By: Kristina Odom