Am I Ready?

This is the handmade nativity scene that graces the altar of my church each Advent and Christmas season.  See how classical the arrangement is? One year, I was working with the Chairperson of Worship, and we decided to take a different approach.  During Advent, only Joseph and Mary were on the altar.  On Christmas Eve, the baby appeared, and the wise men held off until Epiphany. We've never repeated that arrangement, and I'm sorry we don't.  I liked the symbolism of it.

Instead, we want the tableau perfectly in place, without waiting for it.

So many times during December, I was asked, "Are you ready for Christmas?"  I know it is a question to fill time -- small talk -- but I don't like it.  Am I ready for Christmas?  If you mean are all of the presents purchased, the meal planned, wrapping done, house clean, then the answer will be no.

I usually (and this year was no exception) come home from the Christmas Eve service (which ends at midnight) and wrap.  I wouldn't mind doing this earlier, but wrapping requires camping out with all of the supplies and taking over the family room.  I can't wrap as I go, or we would be overwhelmed with bags and paper, all December long.  Wrapping has to wait its turn.

So it is with Christmas.  Was I ready for it to come?  If you mean spiritually, then the answer is no. Who is ever ready for the coming of Christ?  It's a process, and every part has to take its turn. God and I are working on it -- that's sanctification.  It is finished?  No.  And by grace, God hasn't given up yet.

Am I ready?  No, but we're working on it.