Watch or Warning

As we here in the Southeast are walking through the dreaded hurricane season, the terms ‘watch’ and ‘warning’ are very common place in the media weekly. I go over these concepts with my students every year around this time. Primarily because most of them are from parts of the world where severe weather is not a big concern. Some have never experienced a storm or hurricane. I was supposed to do this topic today. It never happened – all schools and colleges in my city are closed. The NWS issued a hurricane warning for my area.

So what’s difference between a ‘watch’ and a ‘warning’. Simply put, a watch means that the conditions are conducive for severe weather to develop. The atmospheric conditions are favorable for trouble. The risk is present, but details are uncertain. That can be canceled. A warning, on the other hand, means the occurrence is inevitable and approaching. Usually, you will see or feel the impact within hours depending on the type of advisory – storm, hurricane, tornado, blizzard etc.

Today, I observed the passion with which we rushed to get things in place. Preparing for this impending storm or hurricane. Most of us took the watches and warnings seriously enough to do something about it – at all cost. I wonder why we ignore the other watches and warnings that life throws us.

Watches:

• Changes in our attitude towards our spouses/children – lukewarm, critical, cryptic, apathy
• Subtle questionable tendencies – comparing ourselves to others, complaining a bit more, struggling to show gratitude, paying excessive attention to the ‘Joneses’
• Appetite for the excess [out of balance]- unhealthy food, alcohol, spending, work, play, sleep, being alone

Warnings:

• Emotional/mental adultery – someone else is stimulating us mentally and emotionally
• Child/spousal neglect- Show little or no attention to those at at home
• Mental challenges – depression, anxiety disorders, panic, baseless fears
• Physical changes- fatigue, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, unexplained weight gain/loss
• Spiritual/Emotional – guilt ridden, unforgiveness, self-deprecation, bitterness, anger, prayerlessness

All the above are some of the red flags we ignore until we find ourselves in the middle of a storm. Overwhelmed and totally inundated – wondering how we got here. We ignored the ‘watches’ and ‘warnings’. Life has a way of waving those flags and giving us those advisories. Oftentimes we see people caught in severe weather and we wonder why they ignored the warnings. Warnings to evacuate or to stay inside. Now ,a first responder has to risk his or her life to rescue such person. We question their sanity. The truth is, we’re all prone to ignore ‘watches and warnings’. If we are to be honest, we’ve all done so a time or two. Thankfully, I have an amazing Father who is good at rescuing those like me.

Because of His intervention, I didn’t get swept away. He still rescues and is totally into the ‘lost and found’ business. That’s why many of us are still here today. It’s not just a cliché – ‘there goes I, but for the grace of God’. What’s regrettable at times though, is the consequences that we may have to live with. The excess baggage, scars and limps.

O we wish we had paid attention! Today my prayer is that experience and wisdom gained will now help us to change the script moving forward. I truly believe that God is not malicious. He has a way of directing and speaking in subtle ways. Many times, in a still small voice. Take heed to that watch…that warning!

Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour. [1 Peter 5: 8 AMP]

***Thanks for reading – Stay watchful!