This is a phrase that I heard a lot over the Christmas break and it didn't seem to matter where we were. At home – Dad, are you ready to play football? Dad, are you ready to paint my room? Dad, are you ready to assemble my Christmas presents? Dad, are you ready to go to Sea World? Dad, are you ready to take me to practice? Dad, are you ready to go to Dave & Busters? Dad, are you ready to go to Lowe’s? Dad, are you ready to go to the movies? Dad, are you ready to go to the Bailey’s? Dad, are you ready to go home?
The above examples are all great things and I enjoyed doing all (well, most) of them very much. But it seemed like I would walk into a room and someone would inevitably say "Dad, are you ready …?" It was honestly quit annoying. It was as if I weren't sleeping then I was being pulled in yet another direction. And, I vividly remember lying in bed one morning and having a kid holding a football in his arm standing over me asking “Dad, are you ready to play catch?” It was Christmas break (my company shuts down for the last week of the year) and I hadn't seemed to get a moment of rest yet.
When I did finally have a few moments to myself and could reflect on 2011 ... the ups and down, the trials and tribulations, the good and the bad, what goals I had accomplished and what goals I hadn’t ... I began to ponder how else and who else had heard those words over this past year ... "Are you ready?"
And instantly the image of my mom and her final moments here on earth came into my head. She died in September of last year and because she passed so suddenly I wasn’t able to be with her. But as she was lying in her hospital bed with her husband, her sister and her sons by her side; I am able to imagine what her final earthly conversation with God may have been like. I picture mom scanning the room through the slots in her eyelids and being warmed and comforted by the sight of her loved ones all around her. As she is taking in this moment I know that she is having a telepathic or spiritual conversation with God and he is asking her “Claire, are you ready?” Her answer to Him was of course, “Yes Lord, I am ready.”
After this reflection I realized that one of the most beautiful phrases that I have ever heard or hope to ever hear is "Are you ready?" I realize now that those are words of love and inclusion. Whether they are from a family member, a friend or my Lord those are words that I look forward to hearing. Have a great and blessed day!
