are you ready?

"Are you ready to become a dad?"
"As ready as I can be."
"Well, what you need to do is ..."

As a new father, I have received an endless stream of advice about how to best raise our daughter. From sage to silly, from "if you let her sleep in the bed with you, she'll never stop" to "every time Amanda gets up, you should get up - and get a bowl of ice cream while you're
at it," I've been preparing for my daughter's birth for some time.
Yet as much preparation as I did, as much advice as I got, nothing could have prepared me for how amazing it is to be a dad. But I also realize more and more each day how much I don't know and how much more I could have done earlier in preparation to live the life of a father.

We are now in the midst of the Christian season of Lent, the season of preparation before Easter. And like becoming a parent, the joy of Easter is something that will always overwhelm our senses and is something that, in many ways, we can never be fully prepared for. Yet
the more we can do, the more we can prepare, the more we can savor the experience and the better we can live once the time comes as an Easter people. Preparing, by giving something up to remind ourselves of Christ's sacrifice, by taking on a new commitment to recommit
ourselves to Christ, or by simply reprioritizing our life, will not change the overwhelming power and life-giving message of Christ crucified and raised. What it can do, however, is change us - make us more aware, make us more sensitive, and make us more equipped so that when He comes, we will be ready to shout with joy that He lives.

There are some things, like being a parent and knowing Christ's love and forgiveness, whose explanation simply exceeds words. But let's do what we can to get ready, because when that day comes, I want to truly be as ready as I can be.