Rejoice

My friends and co-workers came to our home for a gift exchange this week. It was a sweet celebration of our growing friendships, and I hope it will become an annual event. Preparing for the event was truly enjoyable for me as I planned the menu, wrote a special card for each one, arranged fresh flowers, decorated, cooked, cleaned, lit candles and put Christmas music on to play in the background. This kind of labor has its own reward, and as my mother is want to say, “Floats my boat and cranks my crane.”

Planning and preparing with anticipation is a gift of it’s own, and I believe it is at the heart of a great party. During all the time leading up to the gathering, my desire was toward my guests. It’s the same in our relationship with Christ.

In this the third week of Advent, we look with fresh delight and inexpressible joy at the reality that Jesus came. Emmanuel means God with us, and during this season as we celebrate His coming, we prepare a place for Him in our hearts, watching, waiting, and daily amending our lives to His law of love.

He is with us now, in the watching and waiting, teaching us how to live alert to His presence, to hear His voice, and to grow in true knowledge of Him while we look eagerly for His return. He is with us, too, in the preparing. We make room for Him, and He makes room for us.

No matter what you are facing this season, whether sparse or plenty, it is appropriate to give praise to One who came to seek and to save. Rejoice! Rejoice! The King has come. Rejoice! Rejoice! The King is coming, again.

Until next week, dear one, celebrate His coming, and His coming.