By Carrie Halladay
If you’ve lived in Alabama for very long, you’ve probably heard James Spann say some version of this:
“Don’t wait until the tornado warning is issued to figure out your plan.”
He says it every severe weather season. Know where your safe place is. Have a weather radio. Charge your phone. Gather your supplies. Wear a helmet to protect your noggin. Talk with your family. Make these decisions before the storm arrives.
Nobody hears that advice and says, “James Spann is being negative.” We don’t accuse him of being pessimistic. In fact, we trust him precisely because he understands that storms are a normal part of life in Alabama.
What if we approached the storms of life in the same way?
Most people spend their lives hoping hardship won’t come. We tell ourselves that if we’re good enough, smart enough, careful enough, or lucky enough, we can somehow avoid pain. Then suffering arrives, and we’re shocked by it.
But suffering is a lot like a tornado.
It doesn’t necessarily arrive on our schedule. We don’t always know when it’s coming. We can’t completely prevent it. Yet we know with certainty that at some point we will encounter it.
Loss. Grief. Illness. Disappointment. Relationship struggles. Anxiety. Failure. Heartbreak. Debt. These experiences are simply part of the human experience.
The people who navigate suffering best aren’t necessarily the strongest people. They’re often the people who prepared before the storm clouds appeared. They built healthy relationships when life was calm. They developed coping skills before they desperately needed them. They learned how to ask for help. They invested in their faith, their community, their physical health and emotional well-being. They created an emotional storm shelter.
The time to build a storm shelter is not when the warnings are issued. By then, it’s too late. The work needed to happen beforehand.
The same is true emotionally.
Don’t wait until you’re too overwhelmed by anxiety to learn stress management skills. Don’t wait until your marriage is falling apart to start communicating. Don’t wait until grief arrives to build meaningful relationships. Don’t wait until a crisis to find a counselor. Prepare now.
Another thing James Spann understands is that preparation doesn’t eliminate storms. Even the best storm shelter doesn’t stop a tornado from forming. Likewise, resilience doesn’t eliminate suffering. It simply helps us survive it. The goal isn’t to create a life without suffering. That’s impossible. The goal is to become the kind of person who can endure suffering without being destroyed by it.
So the next time you hear James Spann reminding everyone to prepare before severe weather strikes, consider it a reminder for life as well. Storms are coming. The question isn’t whether you’ll face storms. The question is whether you’re building your shelter before the storms arrive.
