day no. 15,715: to provide is to anticipate

"The word 'provide' comes from two Latin words, meaning 'to see beforehand.' You can give the provision because you saw it coming." -- Douglas Wilson, Rules for Reformers

Provision is made in the present by preparing in the past for a prediction in the future. It isn't hard to see that children will get hungry or need bigger clothes as they grow as a result of eating that food; and all of that takes money which requires a stream of income or revenue in order to provide today's bread and tomorrow's clothing.

Men are called to be providers and they do this primarily by anticipating the needs of their loved ones and working hard now in order to secure the ability to meet those needs when they present themselves later. Provision is performed in the present but it begins in the past by looking ahead and all of it is drenched in sweat and labor and proactive pursuit of loving another as you love yourself. Provision is in short an expression of initiative: looking ahead when you don't have to in order to avoid looking back with regrets you wish you didn't now have.  Provision is getting to work now when no one is forcing you to. Provision is thus, by nature, a masculine must.

Because God has designed the world in a particular, predictable order, most needs are easy enough to anticipate. There is a season to plant and a season to harvest and neither should catch the sower or reaper much off guard. Spring showers should not require your shocked face. Planting can be prepared during the winter just as harvest can be prepared in the summer. The fact that food will be required tomorrow as it was today is not a surprise and should not catch anyone off guard.

Being a provider merely means submitting to the world the way that God has made it and working hard today in order to have what you will need tomorrow. Good providers begin with the end in mind and proactively apply themselves today in order to meet tomorrow's needs.