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Be Not Afraid Readinesscatching us off guard. And to go about life this way isnothing less than dangerous, for it is, as he says, “to goabout unprotected, unaware, distracted, and removedfrom reality.”What, then, does it mean to be ready for death atany time? Can we stand before our Maker to give anaccount of our lives? Life simply is fragile, and any ofus could be snuffed out at any time. In the Gospel ofMark, Jesus exhorts us to watch day and night, “for noone knows the hour of his death,” and in his Parableof the Ten Virgins, he warns us what will happen ifthe “Bridegroom” returns and finds us indifferent andunprepared. But should that frighten us into goingaround with long faces, expecting the worst?Martin Luther once said that if the world were to endtomorrow, he would still plant his tree today. A deeplyreligious man, Luther was no superficial proponent ofthe old saying “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrowwe die.” But if his feet were firmly on the ground, hiseyes and heart were set on heaven, and this gave hima confidence and conviction that no calamity couldshake. And insofar as we live in a similar awarenessof the eternal – and the security of knowing that weare always in God’s hands – the same can hold truefor us too. No matter what the future holds, it will findus at peace, because our underlying attitude is one ofreadiness for anything.4