PREPARED

This is the final week before Christmas - the final week of Advent. You may be familiar with Advent Calendars. They are special calendars used to count the days of Advent leading up to Christmas. Today, most are made for children and begin with December 1st and end on December 24th (even though the actual start of Advent varies each year from November 27th to December 3rd). They often have little windows that open, one each day, to reveal either a picture about Christmas or even a little gift or piece of chocolate. They originated in the early 19th century from German Lutherans who had various ways of marking off the days leading up to Christmas.

I have a new twist on the Advent calendar. I call it my Advent tree. It is my Christmas tree. But here's the story: I try to do the decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving, putting up the tree, and putting the lights and ornaments on it, decorating the house and so forth. The problem is, I always run out of time and never finish all the decorating on that weekend. So instead of stressing about preparing everything in one weekend or staying up all hours of the night to get it done, I decided some years ago to just get a little bit done each day. On the first weekend of Advent I try to get the tree itself up and the lights on it, and put out the decorations on the various tables, walls, doors etc. Then the rest of the tree gets done one day at a time throughout the month. Even if some days I only put a couple of ornaments on it, or just put the Bethlehem village nativity scene around the base. That way, it gradually looks more and more complete, and I can enjoy doing it a little at a time, without stressing out. Some years I have even finished putting the final touches on it on Christmas day! And this year I added a new twist - I have two sets of lights on the tree at the same time - blue ones that I plug in during the Advent season, and multi-colored ones that will also be plugged in on Christmas Eve and after. The key for me to enjoying the preparation is to relax amidst the frenzy, get the essential things done first, and know that whatever gets finished will be enough. This year I even am almost finished already!
First week:                                                                    Final week:

                                                                           

How about you - are you prepared for Christmas? Are you feeling stressed about it? There is so much that many of us put on our plates to try to complete. We have to remember that there are things we can choose to take off that plate. What do we absolutely have to do? What would happen if that did not get done this time? Will someone die or be harmed if it doesn't get done? Sometimes realizing we actually do have a choice makes a huge difference in how we feel about doing those things. A simple change in how we think about our preparations can change our feelings surrounding them.

The most important preparation, however, involves our hearts, as we trust in the One who came to earth as a tiny babe in Bethlehem so many years ago. God's prepares our hearts for faith in Him through the Spirit. We rejoice in the Savior with singing!

The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.

My heart leaps for joy,

and with my song I praise him.

Psalm 28:7 NIV

May your final preparations be blessed!

Written by Jan Andersen, heart-prepared