Are Your Ready? Thursday's Reflection

      "Are you ready?" I asked Peter when I arrived at his house to take him to school. 
      "I'm ready," he answered, but then I noticed he wasn't wearing shoes. We both laughed.
      On the way to the car he told me he was going to be on the school patrol next year. He and his Mom talked about a plan for him to walk to school early with a friend. "I'll need a house key," he said.
      "You seem ready for that," I said.  
      "I'm ready," he responded confidently. 

Last Saturday I met with an editor to practice my book pitch. In a week I will attend a conference in which I have an opportunity to meet agents and pitch my book to them. Bruce asked me, "Are you ready?" I said I was ready, but I think I said it more to convince myself. 

In an email from a friend recently she mentioned she would soon be preparing for Passover, doing the major kitchen cleaning necessary to get ready for the holiday. 

I get ready for the day. I get ready to leave the house. I prepare for a spiritual direction client appointment. I go to the grocery store so I can get what I need to fix dinner. So much of the day is in some stage of preparation it seems.

Now that I am in the Third Chapter of my life, "getting ready" has a new dimension. If in the past I could ignore the certainty of my own mortality, that is no longer possible.

The authors of The Spirituality of Age, A Seekers Guide to Growing Older, Robert L. Weber and Carol Osborn write that this stage of life is a  a time to accomplish inner freedom:
                    to find the courage and strength to walk a path
                    through the ebbing tide of the changes in our
                    lives and times by deepening our spirituality,
                    dismantling the illusions of escape, and, thereby,
                    strengthening ourselves for the challenges ahead.

That's a lot to ask, but I want to be ready. 

An Invitation
What are you doing to be ready? I would love to know.