Are you Ready? – Day 19 | Pam's Perambulation

Are you Ready? – Day 19

There is so much to do, so much to get ready.

Before the decorations go up, cleaning needs to be done; before Christmas dinner can be cooked, someone has to buy it; before we can enjoy unwrapping presents, they have to be wrapped. So much to get ready, our time can be taken up.

But are we truly ready?

Our our hearts ready for Jesus? Are we ready to receive him? Have we made a place in our hearts and live where he can be born anew? For that is what Advent is really for, to get ourselves ready, to be open and receptive to what he is going to do in our lives.

The externals of Christmas are lovely – but they are not what is truly important. Have we taken as much care with preparing our lives as we have our homes?

Amidst the busyness, the stress, the illness that seems to be going around, can we focus on God? Can we pray the final verse of O Little Town of Bethlehem?

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray!
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels,
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

Are you ready? For Jesus to come? For God to dwell in you?

1 Peter 1:22-23

²²You obeyed the truth, and your souls were made pure. Now you sincerely love each other. But you must keep on loving with all your heart. ²³Do this because God has given you new birth by his message that lives on forever.

This year for Advent, some friends and I are using Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen. You’re welcome to join us on this journey. Feel free to comment here, or on Twitter using #adventbookclub

Also blogging on the #adventbookclub are:

http://www.likeasthehart.me.uk/

http://drbexl.co.uk/

http://clairemaxim1.wordpress.com/

http://runninglife.wordpress.com/

http://dorothy726blog.wordpress.com/