Advent 2024: Prepare Him Room
“Joy to the World, the Lord has come
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing…”
Joy to the World, written by Isaac Watts, 1719
The door to our guest bedroom is shut tight until I make time to get it ready for our holiday guest flying in. All the extra boxes and furniture that we are not sure how to fit into our new apartment are stuffed into the corners, along with the stuff I inevitably will think, “Why did I cart that to a new continent?!” I know that room needs to be handled… but in the meantime, shutting the door has allowed me to focus on getting our family settled after an international move. Perhaps you can relate.
TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON
There are seasons when we need to set projects aside to focus on more immediate needs – whether in a new location, when we’re navigating shifting job responsibilities or team dynamics, or any number of new life stages like adding babies or sending them off to college. Some of these come with any lifestyle, and some are unique experiences for expats. Inevitably, even some of those normal life shifts can be extra challenging in different cultural contexts and without the traditional family support we might have had back in our home country. It’s right and good for us to hone our attention at times to adjust well in these seasons. But then the boxes remain piled up, doors get shut, and our attention gets muddled. We know there’s room for more, but it’s really hard to see through that shut door… At some point, we need to step back and clean out those spaces that allow room for Christ to move and shift our attention.
And so now, it’s time to look at those unattended areas inside us. Advent is here (December 1), and it’s appropriate (both metaphorically and in my case physically!) to prepare some room. But in a season where I still find myself with limited bandwidth for lengthy projects, I often wonder how to create space in my mind and heart for a meaningful season leading to Christmas. What might God want to be speaking to me now that I just can’t hear with “everything else” jangling for my attention?
PREPARING ROOM – AN EXERCISE
This Advent, join me for a simple exercise to help create some mental space allowing you to more fully center your heart on the birth of Christ. This exercise will take about 20 minutes, and is best done in a quiet and calm environment where you won’t be interrupted. You’ll need some paper (or print the PDF attached below the video to have a bit more structure), pen, and colored highlighters / markers for organizing and taking notes. When you’re ready, you can follow along with this video recording.
WHAT NOW?
Now that you’ve cleared some room, so to speak, how will you fill it? The demands of daily life, the hustle of finishing things by the end of the year, the demands of overseas life… it won’t take longer than a moment to get up and have all those anxieties and to-do lists back at the surface.
You may find it necessary to come back to this brain dump exercise every week throughout Advent. Or perhaps you can simply light a candle for 5 minutes in the dark every morning before the demands of the day begin and read a bit of scripture or an advent devotional. Whatever you do through this season of Advent, we hope and pray it will leave you feeling refreshed and prepared for the year to come. We’ll leave you with these words…
May you receive this season with joy, inner peace, and space to breathe deeply of the goodness of God right where you are.
If you’d like to follow some cross-cultural related advent series, you can view our weekly archives from 2022 and 2023 at the link below. Each includes 4 devotionals with mental health exercises that we hope feel relevant and centering for you. May you feel the Spirit’s presence with you, wherever you find yourself in the world this Advent season.
