I'm sure all of you are preparing for the holidays just like me and everyone else we know...
Checking the lights...
Finding the perfect gifts....
and eating way more food at every holiday party, cookie exchange, and potluck than should even be humanly acceptable.
It's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season - I am just as guilty - with so much going on it's hard to even fit everything in! I've heard that from so many more people this year too - perhaps because Thanksgiving fell so late in November. Everyone seems just that much more in a rush to finish their shopping and plan their parties and send out Christmas cards, and get the decorations up.
Maybe that's why I have found myself meditating more lately on the line from 'Joy to the World' that titles this post:
"Let every heart, prepare Him room..."
Prepare - we certainly spend the month of December preparing for this, that, and the other thing don't we? I could go on and on about how much I prepare for, well, everything in my life (we'll address my OCD planning issues later...) and the Christmas season is no different.
As I really reflect on that verse however, I find myself a little convicted. I mean on one hand, I'm TOTALLY prepared - my shopping is done, gifts are ready to be wrapped and shipped, my cards are in the mail, my decorations have been up since the weekend after Thanksgiving. I'm FULLY prepared for the holiday season aren't I?
On the other hand, have I really prepared my heart, prepared room in it for Him, for the newborn Savior? After all, that's what the Advent season is all about. A somber time for reflection and preparation for the coming of the King. Somber....yeah...I think we can all admit this time of year tends to be anything but somber.
So Christmas is just two weeks away, and tonight as I sat in my church's Wednesday night Advent service, I listened to our pastor talk about Zechariah and how he was dwelling in God and His Word even as his wife Elizabeth was pregnant and subsequently gave birth to a child that she was never supposed to be able to have. Despite the momentous things around him, despite all the hustle and bustle, he found his quiet place and time to give glory to God and to really tune into what God's purpose was for him and for this new child who would soon be known as John the Baptist, and for all of the other things happening around him.
What a beautiful lesson for all of us as we countdown the next 14 days! How can we prepare Him room? How can we dwell in the true meaning of the blessings He has given and what He means for us to do with them to serve others? I hope to focus more on this idea in the next two weeks and I hope you will find a quiet place and time do so with me!
