Oh my goodness! Am I ready?

I've already heard it several times.

I bet you have, too.

We'll probably hear it many times between now and December 25th!

"Are you ready for Christmas?"

What the questioner really is saying is, "Have you mailed your cards or sent your emails?" "Have you decorated?" "Are you finished with your Christmas baking?" 

We meet ourselves coming and going, much like the Dunkin Donuts man in the commercials years ago. The season is hectic, and we call it the Christmas "rush." We tend to forget the reason for the Christmas celebrations. 

But there's another reason for my asking the question. We need to think about more than just our baking, or our cards, or our festive gatherings. We need to think about our attitudes. Have we said "I just can't get into the spirit?" 

What does Christmas, and the Christmas spirit, really mean? The Christmas story says "God became a human being. He expressed His love by living among us, walking and talking with us, and by dying for us." But what is the Christmas spirit?
It's an attitude, right?

So what are the right attitudes we ought to have so that Christmas can really happen in our homes and in our lives?

Let's look in Matthew:

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20But when he had thought this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22Now all this took place so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 23“Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” 24And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he named Him Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25)

Joseph doesn't stand there in the spotlight for very long.

We don't know an awful lot about him.

But I think that Joseph can teach us a lot about attitudes. 

And these can make Christmas real for us.

And can make us "ready" for Christmas.