Preparation

Steve and I finally got our Christmas tree up.  Christmas trees and I have a history that causes me to cringe every year as I approach the stand.  But the tree is part of the decorating that I would not give up.  I see it as “preparing” for the season.  However, the true preparation has to come from elsewhere.  

There is a wonderful book by Douglas Wilson called “God Rest Ye Merry:  Why Christmas Is the Foundation for Everything.”  I read it last year and, when I got to the last quarter of the book, it contained Advent thoughts and devotionals.  So I left it as a treat for myself for this year.  I’d like to share a part of one of those thoughts with you:

“The first man and woman were placed by God in a glorious garden, and given the earth as their inheritance. They were told to stay away from one tree— for the time being— and when the serpent worm entered the garden and lied to them, they gave way to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. They, and all of us with them, fell into darkness and confusion apart from the life of God, and were expelled from the garden. Since that time, in the darkness outside that garden, as we have told one another stories, they have all centered on some way or other of getting back into the garden— but it never seems to work. 

But the Lord Himself promised a way for us back into the garden. Since the serpent had deceived the woman, and brought condemnation into the world by means of that woman, God in His mercy determined that salvation would come through the woman. The seed of the woman would come to crush the serpent’s head, and deliver us all from our self-deceptions. Throughout all the Scriptures, God gave us various indications of what He was going to do— by raising up women to crush the heads of the foe and the avenger. 

And when the time was full, when the time was right, the Holy Spirit came to a young Jewish woman who was steeped in the sacred stories, and He told her that she was to be the one. And the Holy Spirit caused her to conceive, such that her son would be truly and completely human, born of a woman, and at the same time He would be the divine Son of God. She received the news of the enormous honor that had been bestowed on her in all humility, and she received the news as the handmaiden of the Lord. She bowed before Him, as we do now.”

Luke 1:46-55
And Mary said: "My soul magnifies the Lord,  And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.  For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.   For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.  He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.  He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.  He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,  As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever." 

Wilson, Douglas (2012-11-16). God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas is the Foundation for Everything