One Week to Go: Are You Ready?

And suddenly, after three months of decorations, deals in stores, and unending retail emails, one week from today, we celebrate Christmas.

I asked a friend yesterday, "Are you ready?"  She counted off her remaining gifts to buy, the little stuff that always occupies the most time and brain space.  And she described her attempts at navigating all the moving parts of her family getting together.

Advent is a time of anticipation and preparation and Target.

But advent is also a time not limited to a December holiday, but a time of seeking and praying and working through what is around us with a willing heart -- in what is now and what is next.  Am I ready for Christmas to come?  Or for Christmas to be?   Am I willing and ready to let Jesus come not just into the festivities, but into this situation or relationship I am facing?  The stockings are hung by the chimney with care. But have we pushed Jesus out of the story?

Christmas -- the coming of Christ -- makes everything look different, and not just in our living rooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the abiding of Christ in our hearts has an even more visible transformation, in how we approach circumstances, how we walk, how we love, how we respond, even in our ever-unfolding experiences.  "...among whom you shine as lights in the world." (Philippians 2. 15)  Sometimes we catch a glimpse of what He is doing through us.  Sometimes what we do are just seeds planted for future harvests beyond our sight and lifetimes.  God's faithfulness has no expiration date.  God never works in singular outcomes.

Sometimes a present is given, sometimes a gift is opened, but always even more breathtaking is waiting and trusting God for His glory to appear.  Christmas is an annual holiday to be celebrated.  But every day is a holy day to honor Him.

Are we ready for Christmas?  Are we ready today for what only God can do?

Jesus didn't just show up.  The gospel, the good news of His coming, was seamlessly woven from the beginning of time.  Written 800 years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Isaiah pointed to His coming:

For unto us a child is born,

    to us a son is given;

and the government shall be

      upon His shoulder,

and His name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, 

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

            Isaiah 9. 6 

 

Joy to the World! The Lord is come

Let earth receive her King!

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing!