Are You Ready for Christmas?

“Are you ready for Christmas?” must be the most commonly asked question at this time of year. The first time someone asked me that was on November 30. It wasn’t even December yet, but that just speaks to the amount of pressure people feel at this time of year. The holiday to-do lists are seemingly unending, and no matter the effort put forth, expectations rarely seem to be met. We tie up so much of our self-worth into checklists and performance, don’t we? It’s so easy to get swept up into that pressure cooker…

What does it mean to be ready for Christmas, though? Usually people are referring to buying and wrapping presents, sending Christmas cards, planning the activities, cooking the food, baking the cookies, etc. But what it really means to be ready for Christmas is to have hearts prepared for Jesus’ birth. Jesus is coming, after all to suffer for and save us sinners. Talk about a Christmas gift!

So on November 30, my answer was no, I was not near ready for Christmas. I hadn’t done most of the worldly preparations, but really, what does that matter anyway? The most important thing was that on November 30, I was not spiritually ready for Christmas because I hadn’t journeyed through Advent yet!

The season of Advent is a gift to us from the Lord, not a time of unrealistic demands or a barrage of tiring events. What a relief! Waiting implies a slower pace. Advent is a time of preparation… for the coming of Jesus. The candles on an Advent wreath represent hope, peace, joy, and love. I don’t know anyone who already has enough hope, peace, joy, and love! Those are gifts that prepare us to accept Jesus at Christmas and refresh us to do God’s will in our lives on a daily basis.

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be a weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31 RSVCE

I wasn’t ready for Christmas on November 30, but am I ready for Christmas now? Not yet! Why? Because there is still more time in Advent! The season of Advent is shorter than usual this year, so we aren’t even to the final week yet, the week that corresponds with love. I was frustrated that my heart wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be for Christmas yet, but the Lord reminded me that I still have more time- we are not finished Advent yet, particularly the joy and love weeks! There is more time to prepare!

The Lord also reminded me that I don’t have to do my final heart preparations by myself- He is waiting for me to surrender my heart to Him and give Him permission to make my heart like He wants it to be for Christmas. Receiving that in prayer was a huge gift- it took the pressure off of myself to “fix” certain interior things by next week and instead helped me focus on giving Him my heart and all the things in it that could use improving. I’d been trying to fix my heart all by myself, and it was exhausting and not super fruitful. Sure, I need to spend extra time in prayer and do interior work on my end, but I’ve also been needing to surrender those frustrating parts of myself to Him more, and doing that can be my Christmas gift to Him.

The good news is that it’s not too late- there is still time left in Advent! What if we let go of some of the worldly expectations that surround Christmas and cut back where we can so that we have that time to prepare for Jesus? The fact that there are worldly expectations surrounding a religious holiday is a paradox all on its own, if you think about it! And yes, a lot of that stuff can be good and fun, but so what if it all the “stuff” isn’t perfect? Our spiritual readiness is #1 on the priority list, and that’s enough! Am I closer to Jesus now than when Advent began? Will I be closer to Him on Christmas Day than I am now?

In this final stretch of Advent, I realize that the most important things I can do to get ready for Christmas are to spend extra time in prayer and to receive the sacraments more, giving God access to my heart and asking Him what He wants me to do, change, and sacrifice in preparation for Jesus’ birth. And maybe for me the biggest key right now is to realize that I don’t have to prepare my heart alone, but to instead ask God for His help and grace for those necessary interior preparations instead of trying to white-knuckle it alone. It’s such a relief to me that I don’t have to work on those things by myself, and how special that He gave me the gift of that particular insight during the 3rd week of Advent- the week of joy. 🙂

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