Fourth Sunday of Advent

Preparation is often associated with physically doing something. We prepare for thanksgiving by buying a turkey and making pumpkin pie. We prepare for a big sporting event we are playing in by practicing for hours. We prepare an altar by making sure the right supplies are present for the priest. Do. Do. Do. I would like to use this reflection as a challenge to be, be, be in preparation for Jesus' birth as we approach the end of the advent season.

Instead of focusing on buying the perfect Christmas present for each person, making a large amount of cookies, sending Christmas cards to everyone you know, buying the best Christmas tree, and everything else that constitutes for a "perfect Christmas," I challenge you to pause and pray about what is going on inside you and in your life. What do you need in your life to BE a better you? To BE more of your "true-self," as Thomas Merton wrote about? This is how we can prepare for Christmas-by being who God calls us to be everyday of our life.

When we put effort into our relationship with God and center ourselves around the true meaning of this time, then we can focus on giving presents, making cookies, and decorating the Christmas tree. I do not want to say these typical Christmas activities are something that we should discard because it's inhibiting us from the true meaning. No. Let these activities be a way we give glory to God by doing them in the true spirit of ourselves and faith, and in the true spirit of this advent season.