Ready or not

I feel less ready for Christmas this year than ever before. My girls are fighting like crazy. We haven’t baked cookies or watched a single Hallmark movie. I haven’t mailed all the cards. No one has matching Christmas pajamas. I haven’t wrapped the presents, and I’ve hidden a few so well I can’t find them now to wrap them. The tree that stands in front of me as I type this is shriveling up and dying from all the weight and heat of the extra lights we strung on it to keep it lit. I look a little bit like the tree and am feeling more dried up and brittle than I am fresh and ready for the holiday.

But, this is actually good news. Sometimes I need the reminder that Christmas isn’t waiting for us to get all our ducks in a row and pull ourselves together.

Maybe one of the most beautiful things about the Incarnation is that it came as a surprise. Jesus’ birth was prophesied, but no one fully understood how it would play out. No one on earth, save for maybe Simeon and Anna, was ready. A young, un-wed Mary wasn’t prepared to have a baby. Joseph wasn’t ready to start a family. Israel wasn’t looking to welcome an indigent, infant king. Unlike when a royal baby is born today, there was no Baby Watch going on in Bethlehem in 2 or 3 B.C. Angels appeared to a group of very frightened shepherds, not to a ready and waiting paparazzi. The world was weary but certainly not ready.

I imagine Christmas is a little bit like a game of hide and seek where the seeker announces, “Ready or not, here I come!” And as it goes: ready or not, the Lord is come. Christmas has never hinged on our readiness, let alone our worthiness. The Incarnation is a gift. A strange and beautiful gift.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King!

I pray that you and I will receive Him well.

Thank you for letting me share in this space with you week after week, year after year. You challenge, inspire, and encourage me in ways you may never know. And I sincerely wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

Rosie, who is none too fond of any of her seasonal outfits—whether that be her turtleneck sweater or her Mary costume—wishes you a merry one as well!