Five Minute Friday - Ready

Today is Friday.  You have another wonderful chance to join us over at Kate's Place which is called Heading Home, and write about the weekly prompt.  Don't forget, this is the time when you get to write for five minutes flat; no editing, no erasing.  Just write without worrying about whether it is just right or not.  Then link over at Kate's and join the rest of us.  Make sure to comment on a few other posts and let them know you care!  I can't wait to hear what you write on today's prompt.  It is:

READY

: prepared to do something

: properly prepared or finished and available for use

: almost about to do something

START

Ready, set, go!  How many times in life have I heard those words?  The first time you  jumped off the high dive, and my heart hammered in my chest as I wondered if you could really swim good enough.  The first time you tried to compete in a race, tripped over the hurdle and came in last place, limping across the finish line with skinned knees and elbows.  The first time you went climbing and repelling and got stuck on the cliff, clinging for dear life until I could go up and get you.   

In my life, I have been told that if I waited until I was ready, I would never manage to do anything.  There has always been a lot of truth in that.  I was not ready at 17 to get married.  I was not ready to have a baby at 18.  I was not ready to have more than one, or two, or three.  I was not ready to make decisions, live alone, raise children by myself.  I was not ready to start over again.

I have come to find, that we are never really ready for the challenges and even blessings that life hands to us.  How can we be?  Being ready just might entail knowing what is in store.  It would mean knowing the ending as well as the beginning and the middle.  When we are going through tough times, we don’t even understand what might be waiting around the next corner.  We just have to hope and pray and trust in Him.  We just have to take a deep breath and move forward, one step at a time.  We just need to reach out for His hand and know that He will be there to catch us when we fall.  Learning to be ready, means learning to trust in Him, even (or especially) when you know, that you can’t trust in yourself.  

Life is all about how you handle plan “B”. 

STOP

Now it is your turn.  What can you be ready for in just five minutes?  Don't forget to link back over at Heading Home and join the rest of us.