Are you Ready?

“Are you ready for Christmas?” a friend asked.

“Sure.”

“You are?” Her eyebrows raised as she looked at me. It was the first part of December.

“Yes, I’m always ready to celebrate Christ’s birth.”

“Oh, you’re not thinking about the things to get done.”

It seems the question, “Are you ready for Christmas?” is a contest to see who gets the most things accomplished or as a conversation starter. It can also become a pity-party for poor me, look how much I have to do.

Our culture has become so engrossed in getting things done for the holiday that the true essence of Christmas is lost. The focus is on buying gifts and getting them wrapped, making cookies, sending out cards, and decorating the tree.

The secular side of Christmas is fun and enjoyable. There is nothing wrong with these things if they remain as an accessory rather than dominating our energy and time. We need to cautiously keep the glitzy part of the holiday from ruling what we do and how we act.

Does being ready for Christmas mean having all the extras done? Or is it remembering and recognizing that Christ willingly came to earth and then died for all of us? — For that I’m ready anytime.

“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.” Isaiah 61:10a (NIV)

Helen L. Hoover