Ready or Not (Book)

How does being with children offer us a glimpse of God? On our adult faith journey, do we remember the wisdom of our own childhood thoughts? And in what ways are we, as adults, open to the wisdom that children in our midst share about God, faith, life, death and spirituality?

Being in the company of children – as a new mother hungry for soul food – led Ruth Harvey to ask these questions, and to share them with a range of about 30 others – some parents, adoptive parents, foster parents, grandparents, godparents, aunts, uncles, foster siblings – which resulted in this original collection of stories, reflections, meditations, poems, songs and dialogues.

The contributions, including pieces by Peter Millar, Donald Eadie, Yvonne Morland, Em Strang, Ellen Moxley and Neil Paynter, explore how the wisdom shared by children in what they say and do can lead us closer to God. They explore themes of adoption, parenting, illness, disability, birth, death, passion and more.

Ready or Not can be used for personal reflection, group studies and in worship – it offers resources and inspiration for finding God and spirituality in the midst of the busyness, messiness, pressure, nurturing, despair and joy of life.

Ruth Harvey is a Quaker and a Presbyterian minister. She works as the Ecumenical Development Officer for Churches Together in Cumbria, and as a Congregational Facilitator for the Church of Scotland. She is the editor of Wrestling and Resting: Exploring Stories of Spirituality and Seasons with the Spirit, and has been a contributor to many Wild Goose anthologies. She is a member of the Iona Community.


You know us. Carry us
as we have carried within

our children. Listen
as we are learning to listen

to deep life in small bodies new
to the world and full
of refusal to use
our glazed eye …

Oh, the spirit that can enter
when the wind of God
blows the breath

of a child through our bodies
ready or not

Suzanne Swanson, from Ready or Not