Making Ready

I hope I can express my thought this morning without sounding completely trite…but I have spent the morning getting our guest room ready.  (The candy dish still needs to be filled but, yes, the photo by the bed is my sweet Tyler when he was five – and cute as a button!!)  Amid all the dusting (not my favorite chore) and even the laundry and fresh linen, not only was my heart so happy but I could literally sense the excitement of “company” arriving on Friday!!  We’ve been planning this visit for months but, this morning, the anticipation was real! 

Two things I noticed – besides the fact that I really enjoy singing Christmas songs and jingles while I work!  One: the cleaning was not a chore. Let’s face it, on an average Tuesday morning, dusting and vacuuming are simply housework.  But, today, I was getting ready for someone we love. I want the room to not only be ready but to be welcoming, comfortable and to have that “feel at home” atmosphere, and so I was enjoying working toward that goal.  Two:  the little things I’ve ignored or overlooked in the past weeks really stood out.  Where do those little stains come from…in a room we so seldom use??  I should have been more on top of it.

Doesn’t that really embrace the month of December – the Christmas season that leads up to celebrating Christ’s birth?  For weeks, we are preparing and making ready so we can truly remember, reflect and rejoice in Jesus’ birth.  Making our homes say welcome and, then, preparing our hearts as well….it is a joy and not a chore.  We can use these weeks before Christmas to run ourselves ragged and to deplete our joy (as much as our bank accounts) or we can meaningfully anticipate the birth of the One who loved us so much to take on flesh, arrive in a stable and dwell among us.

I think that is a reason to sing just a little louder!!