
The presents are wrapped and the baking supplies ready. MaryBeth Eberhard ponders what still is missing in her Christmas preparations.
I’ve been doing a great deal of preparing lately and it has felt lovely. My tree is decorated. The gifts are all almost purchased. I have the supplies for the holiday baking. Firewood is stacked. Rooms are tidied for guests. My Christmas movie playlist is ready and set to go ... and yet, while sitting quietly in the early morning by our beautifully lit tree and warm winter fire, I find myself wrestling with feelings of discontent and I am turning to prayer to figure it out.
The theme for Catholics in Advent is prepare. The prophet Isaiah reminds us,
A voice proclaims: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! (Isaiah 40:3)
As I sit here, I am feeling proud that I have prepared for this season. It is all finished! But is it really? Why the angst within me?
But I did “all the things!”
This season, I have been using the Face to Face Advent Devotional with Father Mike Schmitz from Ascension Press. In his typical down-to-earth style, Father Mike opens Scripture and helps listeners draw more closely into a relationship with the Lord, so that we may come face to face with Him in a more intimate way. One of his reflections particularly struck me as he spoke about how frustrating it is for some of his college students to receive an Incomplete grade. Having college students of my own, I smiled because I have been the parent who is on the receiving end of that woe. Perhaps not a grade of Incomplete, but a lower grade on a test or a failed test of some sort.
“But Mom, I did all the things!” I gently listen and then help that child come to the realization that they must have forgotten one crucial thing. It's like baking a cake and missing the baking powder; it will not rise. When the cake comes out flat, we have evidence that we missed a key ingredient, and we go back to examine what that could be. My discontent is feeling an awful lot like missing baking soda right now.
Christ is the missing ingredient
I am realizing how easy it is in this season to miss the key ingredient in all our preparation. I am sitting here with the Lord and as I congratulate myself on being “prepared,” I realize I have done so to ease my own workload and none of that has cleared a path for Him. Thanks be to God for these moments of clarity. How easy it is as a parent to get caught up in the fanfare of the holiday season, especially with our children! Is there a way to have the fanfare directed towards Him?
Reclaiming our preparations
I have been known to walk into my children’s bedrooms and comment, “This space needs to be reclaimed for Christ” and swiftly start picking up laundry and gathering dishes. Our efforts for the holidays need to be reclaimed for Christ as well--reclaimed and redirected.
Perhaps one way is to practice the pause in the morning. Sit by the tree and before we begin our to-do lists and our minds start wandering, we light the candle and breathe in an expectant breath as He is coming. That alone should be from where our excitement and hope stem. Perhaps we can task one of the children to lay out the Advent prayer and matches for the wreath at dinner. My heart is always filled when my family gathers and thanks the Lord together.
Our Advent calendar is filled with candy. The joy of waiting is all around us, but has been secularized. Reclaiming it is our mission, especially within our families. So, here’s to persevering on our Advent journey! Let us not find ourselves at the end with the key ingredient, Jesus, having been left out of our preparations. Let us instead wrap Him into all our preparations in our small moments of quiet, through our music, our feast days, our giving, and our time spent together. Seeds of faith are watered in this season for us all. May we have eyes, ears, and hearts ready to receive Him!
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Copyright 2024 MaryBeth Eberhard
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About the Author

MaryBeth Eberhard
MaryBeth Eberhard spends most of her time laughing as she and her husband parent and school their eight children. She has both a biological son and an adopted daughter who have a rare neuromuscular condition called arthrogryposis and writes frequently about the life experiences of a large family and special needs. Read more of her work at MaryBethEberhard.com.
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