Be Prepared

I’ve been a Girl Scout for almost 20 years, so you might think that I have this whole “be prepared” thing down. But I really, really don’t. I’m not a procrastinator by nature. I cannot understand the concept behind, “I write better under pressure.” But as work piled on this semester, I found myself completing my work closer and closer to deadline. My reading became scanning. My notes diminished in length. I was still getting it all done somehow, but I was really setting myself for failure.

Advent is about preparing for Christ. It’s not about just making it through somehow but about arriving in the right frame of mind and heart. I’ve pushed Advent down on my to-do list. It was something I’d get around to observing once school ended. And now that I’m looking up from all my papers, I realized I’ve missed half of my favorite season. Preparing for Christ shouldn’t be some half-assed job done under deadline or an item on a to-do. It should be a renovation, a cleansing of the home within. It should be lived in every moment and every action. Preparation should be a state of being.

If something is inevitable, it would be foolish to not prepare. Christ’s coming is inevitable. Maybe there is debate on knowing the day or hour or manner, but He’s coming. Wouldn’t it be foolish to be unprepared? It would be foolish to clean one time and let the dust collect after. To be prepared means to stay prepared, stay vigilant. I need to be prepared. 

There are four weeks to Advent. That’s because preparing for Christmas shouldn’t be a rushed job. The preparation should be steady and mindful. It should permeate the rhythm of daily life for a few weeks, becoming a part of living. And then that rhythm is broken in a radical revelation:

God incarnate.