Come Now!

This is the summons that all of us will sometime receive from the Great Judge and Father of us all: “Come as you are . . . but come now!”¹ It is a profound thought to ponder⎯the readiness of each of us to face whatever. Sometimes we can straighten out our lives, straighten out the record, finish our unfinished business, arrange our disordered affairs and make amends⎯if we have time. But we don’t always have time. Many centuries ago Cicero said: “No man can be ignorant that he must die, nor be sure that he may not this very day.”² This is true of all of us. Illness, accident, unforeseen events⎯”No man can be . . . sure that he may not [die] this very day.” And so to use a well-worn phrase, we simply ought to be prepared. We ought to be doing what we should be doing. We should be at peace with ourselves and with our loved ones, and with others also. We should have our desks, our documents, our debts, our affairs in order. We should clean out the grudges and the grievances, the feuds, if any, with those who are near us and with those far from us. If we do, come what may, we will be ready; and in the meantime, we will be much more effective and efficient; every day will be more peaceful, more productive. A person at peace with himself and with those he lives and works with, simply lives a better, happier life. Quarreling, dragging around unfinished business, delinquent obligations, unresolved differences, a sense of guilt, tend to clutter and hamper the living of life. It isn’t easy to face facts, but it isn’t easy not to. And letting feelings and unresolved obligations always hang over us is too heavy a load. “Come as you are . . . but come now!” When we receive this summons we’ll be on our way and we ought to be ready of it, and at such peace with ourselves and with other people that we can enjoy each day, each hour, each opportunity, whenever the call comes. Come now⎯just as you are.