As we think about the preparations we need to make during this Advent season, many are making their lists and checking them twice. We can get very organized about things we need to "do" to be ready for Christmas. How we need to "be" to be prepared to welcome Christ into our midst, however, can get lost in all that hustle and bustle.

Recently in our newspaper , there was a long article about a local woman who had been decorating her house for Christmas since the first of November, and she proudly proclaimed that when she was finished she would have seven decorated Christmas trees in her house. She also acknowledged that Christmas baking and buying and wrapping gifts had important places on her list as well. I'm sure it will all be lovely, worthy of a full-color display in a Martha Stewart magazine. I hope she and all those she cares about will be happy with the results, but I can't help but wonder what the manger of her heart will be like. Has she taken any time to prepare a welcoming space in her heart for the Holy One? I surely do hope so.

I doubt that God cares about how many, if any, Christmas trees we have in our homes, how many lights we have on display, how many cookies we bake, or how many gifts we wrap. I do know that the Beloved desires to find us, each and all, "leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God", however it may be manifest. I pray that we each may spend some time in silence this week, pondering what is involved in clearing the way into the manger of our heart space, trusting God's transforming hands to fill the valleys, lower the mountains, level the unevenness, and smooth the rough places so that we may be "found at peace, without spot or blemish" prepared to welcome Christ Jesus once again on Christmas morning.