Comparison

I had all kinds of plans this year to be prepared and have everything ready to go before advent, starting fresh with a clean and decorated house. I had grand plans of having posts pretty much set ahead of time and just scheduled to publish on the day that they were supposed to go live. It should come as no surprise that none of that has happened.

Currently I'm sitting at my desk writing this post well into the evening of the day it's supposed to be published. There are still boxes of Christmas decor scattered across the house, the tree stands half decorated, and our mantle area is in a half-cleared state waiting for Christmas adornment. My child's Advent calendar is sitting waiting to be glued up, and will now be a half Advent, half Christmastide calendar. Our shepherd has managed to find a map to help him on his search, but has made no other appearances this year.

It is so tempting to compare this seeming chaos to the Instagram-worthy pictures online, the Pinterest Christmas recommendations, or the people who are posting daily vlogs for Vlogmas. It would be easy to view this Advent as a complete failure. But yet, we have done a devotional every day as a family. I have posted a blog 12 consecutive days. We have gotten the house clean enough to have friends over. I have Christmas gifts figured out for all but one or two people. And everything I need to do to prepare for our Christmas service at church is complete.

Please take heart from this glimpse of reality. Wherever you are right now, you can start, or keep going. There will never be a perfect time to start. So the best time to start is now.