When we decorate for Christmas, it take a little…rearranging. We have to move things around just a bit in order to prepare room for our Christmas tree. We have to stash some mugs and plates in the garage to prepare room for the Christmas dishes. All of these preparations make room for our house to transform into a place of magic and mystery for the season of Advent.
I love the rearranging, even though I tend towards order and structure usually. I like mixing things up. It makes the mornings look different as the Christmas lights twinkle. It makes me pause and wonder.
Even as I like the rearranging and preparations of Christmas, I find it more difficult during this season to prepare room in my heart. Not that I don’t want my heart to lead during Advent, it’s just that my mind tends to work in overdrive.
And then, there’s a moment so filled with joy and mystery that stops me in my tracks. Making cookies with our newborn sitting on the counter unsure about the whole thing. Unwrapping ornaments that have tiny fingerprints or hearing my kids belt out the twelve days of Christmas at the top of their lungs. These little moments pull my mind and heart back to each other and open up room to slow down.
And suddenly in those moments, my heart opens wide to the magic and mystery of the Light of the World coming again.