Be Watchful, Be Ready!

This time last year we were waiting and preparing for lots of other events that happened alongside Christmas. There was a great sense of anticipation as my Brother in Law and his now wife embarked on a new life as a married couple. The preparation and excitement about travelling further abroad (than we had ever been before) to meet, stay,embrace and welcome a whole new part to our family. Therefore Advent was spent getting prepared, being watchful and making sure we were ready for a multitude of comings and goings. Running around making sure everything was packed, children were ready, passports were ready and the cat looked after. So many things in so little a time to make sure we were ready to welcome these new lives into ours.
A year on I can not say thank you enough. The love and joy the whole of my Sister in Laws family have brought in to ours has been fantastic. They took all of us into their house and without reservation treated us with the warmest welcome having never met us before, and have continued to do so since. So we  followed a star of a kind, to a stable of a kind, found lodgings and a new gift of family.
Each Advent should be filled with this bustle of anticipation. There is much to be done for the birth of Christ. Is our heart open to this gift? Is it ready for the sacrifices it must make? Are our doors flung open in welcome?
Advent welcomes in a new Liturgical year, and with it a chance for new beginnings. A chance for us to look at our lives a new, ready for this new life to arrive in ours. I always find an examination of conscience at this point a good starting point. I find the Sacrament of reconciliation an important part of Advent preparation. Whether this is your tradition or not, I would heartily recommend finding a way to bring your sins to God. In bringing our transgressions before the Lord, allowing him to take them and absolve them, leaves us with a clean slate to start our preparations.
Having cleaned our hearts of our wrong doing, we can open it to Christ. Spending time with Christ we can discern the journey that we are to take over the coming year.
Then we can metaphorically pack our suitcase for the journey. We can start looking at the tools we need to journey alongside Christ.
Then we can follow our star to the stable, and inside find our gifts, love, joy, faith, hope and forgiveness. All of these enormous treasures before us in one small and fragile child. What a wondrous gift indeed.
As I walk a much calmer journey towards Christmas this year, I am grateful for the gift of a new family I received last year. I am grateful for the new life we have been given in Ilkley. I am listening and preparing for a whole new journey in the coming year. There will be many new blessings to arrive in our lives next year, each one will bring new life and light into our lives.
All of these lights in our lives burn so brightly because they are all gifts which come from the light that lights all lights.  Our Lord Jesus Christ.