Making Space For the Season

Wow, it has been quite a month and Christmas is only days away. Where did the time go? For me, I have been immersed in a move (and am currently climbing out of a mountain of boxes and tending to last minute repairs and fixes on our new home). A few weeks ago, I posted about my concerns about planning and preparing for a move during the holidays. Read it here.

At the time, I thought that even with all we had looming ahead I could make time to honor the season in a few simple ways, such as:

• Going to church and observing Advent
• Going to holiday parties
• Participating in the annual Tour of Homes I go on with my mom each year
• Baking cookies at my mom's house with the cousins
• Helping others like donating to Angel Tree and packing a box for Operation Christmas Child
• And get the kid's picture with Santa

Well, I was lucky enough to participate in a few of the above, but have fallen short on most of them. Instead, I find myself in a true period of Advent. Waiting. Waiting for the home we are moving into to be ready, waiting for the money to shop for Christmas, waiting for the move, waiting to be unpacked enough to use the basic necessities (like our kitchen) and waiting for the peace of the season to come. We have no tree. No presents are wrapped. There will be no holiday baking. In fact, there is not much to remind us that Christmas is almost here.

We have experienced setbacks, illness and loss. My dear mother-in-law passed away last week. Quickly, but not entirely unexpectedly. However, we cannot go north to say goodbye and join the rest of the family in honoring her memory at this time. Last week, in the midst of the move, we also had to say goodbye to our loyal friend sweet, beautiful Hogan who had been with The Red Sox Fan and me some 15 years, since before we were married. We are sad, stressed, overwhelmed and anxious for the peace and light that only our Saviour can bring. If we can look beyond our mess long enough to notice Him.

That is why I am looking forward to the wisdom of a sweet friend, Christian author and speaker Joanne Ellison. Joanne is launching an 8 week video/blog series and linkup called Making Space for God Mondays on Jan. 7. My resolution for 2013 is to truly make space for God in every area of my life and invite him to transform it. What about you? How do you make space for God when chaos surrounds you? I'd love to learn from you! Please comment below.