Preparing to Bring Christ to a World in Need

Here we are in Advent and rather than preparing ourselves to meet our Lord we are all too often preparing for anything and everything else. The gifts need to be bought and wrapped, the food needs to be purchased, the house needs to be decorated, there are parties to attend, etc., etc. Let’s not forget the normal everyday things that already fill up our time. So how do we find the time and space from the chaos of life to prepare ourselves to meet and receive Christ?

Mary and Joseph went searching for a room in which to bring the son of God into and couldn’t find one. Sound familiar? “I’d like to be closer to God but there just isn’t room in my life for that right now.” Luckily we have a patient God. When we stop the excuses, and the complaining, and the constant running, we find that He still stands at the door and knocks, waiting to bring us the joy and peace and hope we’ve been longing for. We just need to make room for Him.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we get to decide how we spend our time. Admit it, you are more than willing to make sacrifices in order to have time for things you really WANT to do. We will rearrange our entire lives to make room for things that are important to us. The issue is not that we don’t have time to spend preparing ourselves to receive our Lord through prayer, meditation, spiritual reading, sacraments, liturgy, etc.; the issue is that we don’t make time. We are so busy with life that we run out of steam and seem to forget that our communion with God is what gives us the steam to start with. We get burnt out and end up trying to serve ourselves and others with an empty cup because we haven’t taken the time or effort to fill it up.  

There is good news. Although taking time out from our daily rounds as Christ did again and again to spend time with Our Maker is important and necessary, we can grow closer to Him and fill our cups at the fountain of His grace in the midst of everyday. We can practice communion with God no matter what we are doing. We are constantly in the presence of God, we just get too busy and distracted to notice Him. If while we are getting ready for work, working, cooking, eating, driving, visiting, cleaning, bathing, meeting, exercising, doing the laundry, etc., we realize that God is present with us and acknowledge Him we open ourselves up to receive His grace, the grace that fills our cups to overflowing. Let it spill out into your life and the lives of those you serve!