Week 3, Day 4: Ready for Christmas

We've been asking each other the question for a couple of weeks now, but the frequency is picking up as we mark off the December days on the calendar. Just yesterday, in fact, the question was posed to me in the break room at work.

Are you ready for Christmas?

I have been both the asker and the answerer to this question; it's kind of like December's "How about this weather?" when you want to start a casual conversation. And though there are probably some variations, we all generally understand the question to be commercial: have you finished your Christmas shopping? And social: are you holding up under this hectic calendar of activity? And aesthetic: do you have your Christmas tree up?

And yesterday, when I answered the question with an enthusiastic, "Yes!" I had all of those things in mind. So did the person who asked me, when she responded back, "I'm not. I don't even have my tree up!"

But this holiday question that's on everyone's mind very rarely reflects what we should really be asking each other, what we've been working toward this whole advent season.

Are you ready for Christ?

NOT, do you have your life cleaned up? Are you ready to start living better? Are you finally going to start going to church? INSTEAD, have you come to the end of yourself? Do you realize you can do nothing apart from Jesus? Are you ready to believe in the God who took on flesh because He loved you?

By all means, finish your shopping and put up your tree and make sure you don't double book your holiday parties. But also take some quiet time alone, now that we're in the thick of the holiday hoopla, and make sure you are ready for Jesus.