In His Name, Exalted

Ramadan is coming again.
Getting ready for Ramadan is like getting ready for a big trip.
My mother advises making a list. What do you need to bring?
To benefit from Ramadan, what do we need to do to prepare? What do we need to bring to this month of fasting?
It is good to start with du'a, supplication, asking God for a safe journey.
We need to have patience. There might be a lot of setbacks, stop and go, dangers and difficulties. May Allah give us patience to bear with it all. To make a good supplication, we need to ask God and ready ourselves for His answer.
It is good to get clean before the trip and to have a good fragrance. We should make ghusl. Take a shower, step aside, intend ghusl for the sake of approaching Allah on the occasion of getting ready for His blessed month. Rinse the right side, left side, and head. Make sure the water rinses the entire surface of the body. Think of all the dirt that we would like to wash away this easily from our lives: bad temper, clumsiness, laziness, greed, or whatever other vices and bad habits have been getting in the way of a better life. I want to wash all that dirt away to welcome Ramadan. After all, Ramadan is when God sent down the Qur'an to humanity, and now we want to commemorate this through our own spiritual encounter with the divine revelation.
After cleaning up, we need to think of what to wear for the journey, something in which one can travel comfortably, but humble attire---this is no time to show off. "O Children of Adam! We have certainly sent down to you garments to cover your nakedness, and for adornment. Yet the garment of taqwa (Godwariness) --- that is the best." (7:26) So, let's come to Ramadan in fear and trembling and anxious excitement to stand before God and take part in the feast He has prepared for us, in sha' Allah!