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At one point in this journey, we will come across a happening where the wise men come to visit the baby Jesus. It’s way later in the month but I think it matters that we see it at the very beginning. 

The Passion Translation reads: When they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, they were overcome. Falling to the ground at his feet they worshiped him. 

When I first encountered this, I read it three times. I kept reading it because I had never noticed before that they immediately were overcome with such joy and awe that their response was to fall to the ground at his feet and worship. 

Now, why don’t I do the same? Because the same good news has come to me and I cannot remember the last time I fell to my knees in worship, eager to praise God for the miracle of his Son. 

As I sat there and journaled about the reaction of the wise men– them losing all composure over a little baby– this thought came to me: What’s standing in my way? What’s getting in the way of me worshipping? 

 

Leading up to Advent season last year, I was feeling a little worn out and exhausted. I was feeling parched for joy and I didn’t know how to recover it. Here I was– 17 weeks pregnant with a baby girl and entering into my favorite time of year– and I could not for the life of me figure out how to enjoy the moment. How to just be present. How to not resent everything on my calendar. 

But as I asked the question– what’s standing in your way?— I knew almost immediately what the barrier was. My joy was being blocked by something I’ve been hands-on battling for the last few years: comparison.  

This slow, seeping comparison started off small and then, as I allowed it to take up space in my brain, it continued to grow and spread to the point where it was taking life away from me. I can tell you instantly that the gasoline that fuels the fires of comparison, for me, is social media. Specifically, Instagram stories. 

I’d gotten into the habit of mindlessly watching stories, using these stories as background noise. But what I was really allowing with each story of someone else’s life wasn’t a spirit of celebration or “good for them,” it was a more toxic dialogue in my brain that I didn’t add up. That I shouldn’t try. That I should just give up and go a different path. 

These are the things that stood in the way of my worship and awe.  

These are the things that– if I permitted them– would continue to spread and suffocate. I would go through the Christmas season so mindlessly that I never even stopped to see the newborn King in all the details around me.  

So I cut the cord. There and then. 

I made a decision to cut back from the mindless scrolling through Instagram stories. It was almost instantly that my joy began returning to me. My creativity perked up. My optimism came up of out of the dead and I began to look forward to the days and weeks ahead of me. It hasn’t always been that easy or swift to identify the problem but, in this case, I immediately felt the positive effects of making space for God to move. 

I say all of this because if we are not careful then we will trek through this Advent season like zombies– parched for joy and starved of wonder– because of something in our lives that is standing in the way of our worship. 

 

We need to clear the space. 

We need to make room for worship. 

We need to be proactive in excavating our lives for that which isn’t giving us any joy or fuel and then pulling it up by the root.

 

The most wonderful resource you can give to God, and what I think he craves the most, is your time. When you get serious about moving barriers out of the way to make room for worship, God is glorified and amplified in your life.

This is a season that will happen so quickly. We are already here– on the second day of Advent– and we will blink and miss it if we are not intentional with our moments throughout the day. 

As we enter into the story and begin in Luke tomorrow, I invite you to look at your own life and ask the hard question: What is standing in the way of my worship? 

 

Do the hard thing. 

Uproot the noise.

Dare to take back your joy this season. 

READING

Matthew 2:11

 

STEAL THIS PRAYER

Dear God,  this is a season centered on what you’ve done for this weary world. I don’t want to miss that or feel blocked for joy all month long.  Please help me clear the space and move things out of the way to worship you. I want to be so in awe of you this Holiday. Help me get there.