Are You Ready for Christmas? A Special Christmas Episode with a Christmas Poem & Prayer

How often have you heard the question, "Are you ready for Christmas?" How do you respond? Do you base your readiness on whether your Christmas shopping is done? Cookies made? I must admit, in past years, I tended to gauge my readiness for Christmas on my shopping list--but not this year. This year feels a little different. Our entire home flooded in September, and we're still not back in it. I usually have a tree dressed to the nines by now and lighted garland adorning the entryways. Gifts wrapped, bagged, and tagged and cookies baking in the oven (well, the Pillsbury Dough Boy ones, and you can read about that here in my post, Confessions of a Faker Baker). This year? Not so much. At first, I feared the dreaded FOMO (fear of missing out) when I'd see all the beautiful Christmas tree photos plastered all over social media. Not being judgy, I usually plaster mine there too. But I realized what I feared most were my feelings. How would I feel about not putting up a real tree and not having a living room ready to put it up in? How would I feel about not decking the halls with boughs of holly? Then it hit me. I don't need a tree or boughs of holly--I have Jesus, and He is all I need. We hear the phrase "the reason for the season," and Jesus truly is our everything. God didn't give us a spirit of fear, and He makes it clear in 2 Timothy 1:7: "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." Self-control--hmmm ... That's a fruit of the Spirit, and we've already received it when we are in Christ. So we can focus on what is really important this Christmas--the birth of our Savior, and because of His birth--we can accept Him and become children of God. We can celebrate because not only did Jesus put on flesh to dwell among us--He's coming back to get us. We'll be back in our home soon enough, and all will be good again. But even so, God is still good and hope is still ours because we have Jesus. Speaking of hope, I hope you enjoy this special episode where I read a Christmas poem and offer a Christmas prayer. If this season is a hard one--know that Jesus placed His joy in you that your joy may be complete. Merry Christmas and Much Love, Doris Featured image: Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash Christmas music featured on this episode: Silent Night by Daddy's Music - Royalty Free on Pixabay 'Twas the Night Before Christmas a Long Time Ago found on https://www.christmasmagazine.com/twas-the-night-before-christmas-a-long-time-ago/ A Christmas Prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson