Helping Your Children Be Ready
I’m a dreamer in the sense that I like to think things up and try to make them happen. I do most of my dreaming in the daytime and rarely remember dreams I have while I am asleep.
This cover of the July 4, 1906, edition of Puck magazine
by Carl Hassmann shows a little boy dreaming of fireworks
in an illustration entitled, “A Dream of the Fourth.”
Courtesy Library of Congress.
The sleeping dreams I do remember often — very often — have a recurring theme: I am supposed to do something and I am not ready. I had one of those in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. I had a house full of little girls who were waiting for breakfast the morning after a sleepover and I had nothing to serve them. Before long my dream had taken me to a large and unfamiliar downtown neighborhood where I wandered looking for a grocery store or donut shop.
Several years ago, I had a vivid dream with my common theme. I was supposed to speak in a church gym. Men, women, and children were scattered among the bleachers. They had not yet quieted down but the time was getting closer and closer. I stood on stage in the spot where I was supposed to speak. At some point the scene changed to a different room in the same church (you know how dreams are), but my situation remained the same. I was just not ready for what I was supposed to do.
For one thing, I had curled and dried my hair and hadn’t even brushed it yet. I stood on stage in front of the audience — looking like a silly willy — while I wondered what I should do. Should I go on and speak or should I brush my hair? Oh, I was in a tizzy.
Then, as usual, I woke up and my dream was over.
I have always thought these dreams were simply a reflection of my feeling stressed to get things done, but that time I wondered what these recurring dreams could mean for me spiritually. I wondered if God was kindly reminding me of the most important time to be ready — the time when I must be ready for His judgment of my life.
Homeschooling mamas worry about helping their children be ready — ready to take a big test, ready for college, ready for life. What does God’s word say about being ready?
Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,
And apply your mind to my knowledge;
For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
That they may be ready on your lips.
Proverbs 22:17-18
For this reason you also must be ready;
for the Son of Man is coming at an hour
when you do not think He will.
Matthew 24:44
God wants us to be ready and through Jesus He has given us everything we need to be ready. I am grateful that you are committed to guiding your children in being ready — ready for what is most important.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come
and His bride has made herself ready.
Revelation 19:7