Fitting it in

"But there are also many other things that Jesus did if every one were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written!" John21:25

Only a few days left before Christmas, are you ready? (Maranatha!) One of the pitfalls about planning for this holy day is you try to do too much, and then when you run out of time you feel bad about the things you couldn't get to.

Like visiting relatives, baking cookies, going to parties, shopping, cleaning the house, seeing a holiday movie, going to church, decorating the house--inside and out this year, and so many, many other things. Too numerous to mention. Here at church, activities abound, and Joanne and I are trying to fit the entire worship service for Christmas Eve (5 and 11) into an eight page bulletin--tough job. Things like these make this time of year hectic, stressful, and in the end, disappointing when plans and reality collide.

Why not plan less things to do? Jettison some of those "have to do's." Stick only with the real important things, plus a few extras for FUN! Don't feel guilty about not doing it all or not being Martha Stewart. That's not the kind of preparing you need to do during advent--you need to clear out your heart--not clutter it up.

After all, look at the verse above from the end of John's gospel. He didn't put all the stories of Jesus he knew into his gospel. Isn't that a mind-blower? What could be more important than those stories? If he could leave out some of the good news, and still have a great story (Luther's favorite)--you can skip a visit to Aunt Betsey (you can visit her next year!).

What I'm saying is that too much is too much. John knew that, and so do you. So, as we head into the final days of Advent, let some things go, just sit, and wait for God. That's part of preparation too.


Lord God, all the books in the world could never hold the entire story of your love. And all the hours in the day can't sustain what we 'd like to do in them. Help us choose what's important to do, and what's not. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.