Prepare Him room…
Snow lightly covers the frozen ground outside. I am thankful that I paused during the busyness of Thanksgiving to dig a hole for a hydrangea that I hadn’t yet planted. I had recognized and responded to a subtle nudge of warning that warm day. My son gave me that hydrangea, unaware that he was cooperating in God’s plan to give me a signal grace! Our Lord used that unexpected gift to show me to move forward with the hydrangea as the logo for my website and blog. I love how our Lord does that!
I am so grateful and humbled by what He will do to guide us when we step out in faith and in trust.
More than a year and a half ago I stepped out in faith to respond to another nudge - to join a Catholic writing community and to take a memoir course during a busy time when, looking at my calendar, it did not make sense to do so. I have come to recognize those promptings, those little knocks on the door of my heart —sometimes in hindsight when I have failed to act on them! — and to follow them, trusting that our Lord has His own timing and plan. I made room that spring for God’s plan for me, and the journey of writing it down as He writes it on my heart began.
As we enter into this second week of Advent, where in our hearts and our lives might we need to prepare Him room?
The Blessed Virgin first gave her fiat and prepared Him room. It wasn’t what she had expected or planned. When the time came for His birth, she waited as St. Joseph knocked on door after door in Bethlehem. He had expected to find lodging behind one of those doors, but there was no room in any of the inns.
St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary gratefully accepted the provision of God as they were led to a cave used as a stable for their lodging, and the dark and damp space was illumined and made beautiful by the light of the Christchild. God had a different plan than St. Joseph, a plan for His Son to be born safely hidden away and laid in a manger in the town of Bethlehem, House of Bread. And His star guided those shepherds whom He wanted to find Him so that they might be the first to adore.
As our Lord knocks at the door of our hearts this Advent season, this week, this day, will He find room? If we hold too closely our own expectations and desires, will there be room for Our Lord’s?
If instead we wait in expectant hope, holding loosely all things except Him to Whom we cling, we allow our Lord to draw us into His plans.
His — and Our Lady’s — plans for my writing have called me to something I would never have imagined and could not have done on my own. My Praisewriters community has created a beautiful book, Cloud of Witnesses, about the Saints, and how they inspire and touch our lives, and I was blessed to contribute a chapter about Our Lady, Queen of Peace. You can download prayers given by Our Lady to Jelena in Medjugorje to consecrate yourself daily to Our Lady. (Look for more about the effects of consecration in my own life in a future post.)
The book went to publishing this past week and is now available to order. (If you live locally and would like me to personalize a copy for you or for someone for a gift, please reach out to me, and I will happily reserve a copy for you.)
I am in wonder and awe at what our Lord does when we open the door to Him as He knocks, as we, like Our Lady, let go of our own expectations and say, “Be it done unto me according to Thy Word” (Luke 1:38).
I will close by sharing these lines from “Prepare Him Room” by Sovereign Grace:
“Oh, our hearts, as busy as Bethlehem
hear Him knock, don’t say there’s no room in the inn…
Prepare Him room, prepare Him room.
Let the King of Glory enter in.”
…in honor of Our Lady on the eve of the Church’s celebration of her Immaculate Conception.
Wishing you a beautiful and blessed Advent season filled with trust and wonder as we await the coming of the newborn King.
Brenda
Reposted from Advent Subscriber Newsletter 2024