I want to tell you this is the only messy spot in my house … but it’s not. And it’s our guest room.

We always wanted to prepare a room … for guests. Not for messes. 🙂 But while there hasn’t been a guest in there, it has gradually become the catch-all spot for things I didn’t have time to put away, stuff I didn’t want to make a decision about, items I couldn’t bear to throw away, and clutter that needed somewhere to go when life was pressing with other things. Some of the things that prompted me to fill the room with stuff “other-than-guests” were good things like visiting family, making dinner, going to church, speaking at women’s events, having my quiet time, writing, and serving.  Some other things seem pretty useless when I think about writing them down.

There IS room for a guest, but I need to move out all of the other stuff that has taken up the place where the guest should go. Until I clean it up, I’m not really free to welcome a guest. I can be disappointed that no one’s coming to see us for the holidays, but where would they stay if they came?!?!? Truth is, I haven’t prepared room for them. I let everything else take over. 

Tomorrow is December 1st. Many people have already started Advent reflections, where we read about the Christmas story daily, in preparation for celebrating Jesus coming to earth. We want to experience Him, but the truth is, we haven’t prepared room for Him. We let everything else take over. 

I want to focus on Jesus in this Advent season, but I need to move some other stuff out of the way.  I need to make room for Jesus.  People have faced that challenge ever since a tired and scared young couple found shelter in a stable “because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). No room.

Will you join me beginning tomorrow to look at a different person each day who encountered Jesus and had to decide if they would prepare Him room?  You might have to “move something out of the way” to take time to consider those who met the Son of God on earth, but if your life is anything like my guest room, you probably don’t need most of the “life clutter” anyway.

There’s a long list of things we want to do and things expected of us in the Christmas season. It’s easy to pile things on our life and end up suffocating instead of celebrating.

If you want to be sure to get each of December’s daily devos sign up for emails.

I want to tell you this is the only messy spot in my house … but it’s not. And it’s our guest room.

We always wanted to prepare a room … for guests. Not for messes. 🙂 But while there hasn’t been a guest in there, it has gradually become the catch-all spot for things I didn’t have time to put away, stuff I didn’t want to make a decision about, items I couldn’t bear to throw away, and clutter that needed somewhere to go when life was pressing with other things. Some of the things that prompted me to fill the room with stuff “other-than-guests” were good things like visiting family, making dinner, going to church, speaking at women’s events, having my quiet time, writing, and serving.  Some other things seem pretty useless when I think about writing them down.

There IS room for a guest, but I need to move out all of the other stuff that has taken up the place where the guest should go. Until I clean it up, I’m not really free to welcome a guest. I can be disappointed that no one’s coming to see us for the holidays, but where would they stay if they came?!?!? Truth is, I haven’t prepared room for them. I let everything else take over. 

Tomorrow is December 1st. Many people have already started Advent reflections, where we read about the Christmas story daily, in preparation for celebrating Jesus coming to earth. We want to experience Him, but the truth is, we haven’t prepared room for Him. We let everything else take over. 

I want to focus on Jesus in this Advent season, but I need to move some other stuff out of the way.  I need to make room for Jesus.  People have faced that challenge ever since a tired and scared young couple found shelter in a stable “because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). No room.

Will you join me beginning tomorrow to look at a different person each day who encountered Jesus and had to decide if they would prepare Him room?  You might have to “move something out of the way” to take time to consider those who met the Son of God on earth, but if your life is anything like my guest room, you probably don’t need most of the “life clutter” anyway.

There’s a long list of things we want to do and things expected of us in the Christmas season. It’s easy to pile things on our life and end up suffocating instead of celebrating.

If you want to be sure to get each of December’s daily devos sign up for emails.