What does being prepared for the return of Jesus look like?

So I'm reading Mark Atteberry's "Free Refill", and I reach the final chapter discussing the return of Jesus. He talks about "being prepared" and "having your life in order". Hmmm... it's stuff like this that make me wonder if I'm doing something wrong. I have a tendency to live by the seat of my pants; my mother calls it a "fly by night" kind of living. I don't really know what that means, but I do know that I am not really one that prepares for things in the far off future. (I'm easily irritated when my sister wants to discuss logistics for a vacation that is 6 months away.) Matthew 24 & 25 tell us to be prepared for His return, but what does being prepared look like?

I don't think being ready means "being cleaned up"; I think that idea is counter-intuitive to the Jesus that I know, the "friend of sinners".  Atteberry references a speed trap on a Florida highway saying that, if people knew when the cops would be hiding at said speed trap, no one would ever get pulled over because they knew to obey the speed limit. So does this mean we should be obeying the law all the time? I think this is also counter-intuitive to the "friend of sinners" Jesus, and frankly, the gospel at large. If we are sinners, then we cannot always be in full obedience. As Christians, we are sinners saved by grace. In and through this, Jesus met the obedience requirements for us in His death on the cross.

I'm wondering if being prepared for His return looks something like anticipation with bated breath? If you understand the human condition, then you understand that we are deeply flawed, and as a result, live in a very fallen world. My friend Jason uses the phrase that "things are not the way they should be". Anyone who watches the news or is aware of their surroundings knows this to be true. Last summer alone, I watched a kid overdose in my backyard, watched 10 EMT's pull a 400 pound suicide victim out of the house across the street, and watched heroin infiltrate my neighborhood via the next door neighbor. Personally, I befriended a recovering heroin addict years ago that has disregarded my feelings a dozen times over and as a result, broken my heart more times than I care to admit. What if being prepared meant waiting for all of this BS to be over? What if it meant waiting for "the way it IS supposed to be"?

I do think that all of the aforementioned scenarios point me to Jesus, my rescuer and redeemer. What if the suicide victim knew Jesus, savior of the world, as his own personal savior? Would that have made a difference in his desperation? Personally, I would say yes, but I only know that to be true because I too have experienced desperation and long suffering, and therefore knew (and had to be reminded by amazing people) that God is sovereign, redemption is real, and therefore the moments of desperation were not the end of the messy story. This is the good stuff, the stuff that gives me hope. Hope that Jesus really is coming back, that he hasn't forgotten us or betrayed us, and one day, restoration will come to our fallen world.