Ready or Not

As a child I remember thinking that Christmas was the slowest holiday of the year to arrive. The months seemed to drag as they got closer to December. Mother would tell me, “Camille, someday the months will fly by.”

That seemed impossible, but guess what? Mother was right! It seems like such a short time ago we were wishing one another a Merry Christmas and looking back over 2019.

Yet, surely a year is ample time to “get ready” for Christmas. There were sales after Christmas, online July sales, hibernating August heat that gave ample time for making Christmas lists, and the November evenings offered extra time for baking casseroles and dressing that could have been frozen.

What about the months of lockdown that COVID dictated? Where did all that time go when practically all events and assemblies were canceled? My excuses evaporated with all my good intentions of being prepared for Christmas 2020.

Then God, knowing my worldly planning notions, put me in touch with an old file of poems. No one else could have heard his directions, but I did. “Read this,” was my divine instruction. “This is the preparation I desire.”

“Ready for Christmas,” she said with a sigh,
As she gave a last touch to the gifts piled high,
Then wearily sat for a moment to read,
“Till soon, very soon, she was nodding her head.
Then quietly spoke a word in her dream,
“Ready for Christmas, what do you mean?
Remember those words you whispered last eve?
Ready for Christmas while holding a grudge?
Perhaps you’d better let God be the Judge!”
She woke with a start and a cry of despair,
“There’s so little time, and I’ve still to prepare.
Oh, Father! Forgive me, I see what You mean,
To be ready is more than a house swept clean,
It’s a heart swept clean that He wanted to see,
A heart that is free from all bitterness and sin,
So be ready for Christmas, and be ready for Him!”

Anonymous

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10

Sovereign LORD, tune my heart to sing your praise and may the Holy Spirit teach me Your meaning of preparedness. In the wonderful name of Jesus, Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Camille Anding is a child of God since age 12.
• Wife of 53 years to Othel; mother to Tahya and Eli;l grandmother to seven grandchildren and two great-grands.
• Retired from photography business with Othel. Now carry cameras on their travel adventures.
• Freelance writer, regular contributor to Hometown magazines, and dedicated to living “my utmost for His highest.”