Have you prepared Him room?

As is custom around this blog, around this time of year... I submit (and admit - that yes, I am one of those people!) our annual Christmas Letter, written in early December:
_________________

Christmas Greetings

from the Aggetts!

We pray that you & yours are well & are finding it near impossible to get through the holidays without experiencing the Love & Light, the Joy & Peace that comes only from ‘Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” (Isaiah 9:6)  My mind has been pondering over the Christmas Story – HIS-story, if you will… & I keep reflecting on the Inn Keeper.  We tend to make all sorts of assumptions about him.  As we walked through the Journey to Bethlehem live nativity this year,  I wondered how he felt when he heard the News.  Did He remember them, or were they just part of a long line of customers he turned away? Did he connect the dots, & realize that the couple they were murmuring about was the same one he had turned away the night before - the night before everything changed?

God – for a season, became vulnerable & dependent on flesh & blood.

God – with skin on… clenched fists & tiny toes, lungs limited to air, crying out for comfort.

He became one of us! Yes, everything changed that night!

I keep getting stuck on the keeper of the Inn.  We know that his business was – at least during the census – prosperous; filled to capacity, but we don’t know what he was thinking in the hectic chaos of his day… was he tired & angry… was he seeing income not able to stay – money, just walking away… did his heart go out to this young couple with nowhere to freshen up; nowhere to rest… we don’t know.  Maybe it was a combination of all of those things.  Chances are good, however, that after the fact, the enemy came in & fed him all kinds of lies. Lies like he missed his calling, God was mad at him, maybe he COULD have made room... maybe he SHOULD have made room.  We can guess this because not much has changed in his game plan.  The enemy of our soul loves to sow seeds of doubt & tell us stories of an angry, disappointed God.  We don’t really know what the Inn Keeper was thinking, but what we DO know is Jesus’ birth was prophesied & He quietly burst into this world EXACTLY how He had planned!   

Maybe it’s because our girlie is focused on the future, & pressure is seemingly mounting, & time feels as if it is spinning faster & faster, & we are running out & we question if we have done all we could do – maybe that is why we feel that speaking Life & Love, consistently, on purpose is so vital!  We have found many can get so caught up in doubts & lies of who they really are, in the Bossy lists & Busyness of daily life, & we don’t think about preparing Him room. They - no, WE – can forget to “Come Let Us Adore Him!”  I’d like to think that just when the Inn Keeper was beginning to entertain thoughts of missing the mark, of falling short, of not really “seeing” like he should have, someone reminded him what it says in the Scrolls & how even in his not knowing, God was at work in & through him!

Because, really, that is just how Jesus is!  He is always at work in us & through us & all around us & it really is most common for us – right NOW, in this magical season, to see a bit more clearly – with hearts more open.  We hear the call & even in the rush of all that must get done, we feel the pull to slow down & we sense & feel & anticipate silent nights that are made holy! Our own clenched fists are invited to relax, let go… to reach out… to give & to receive freely… hands & hearts open wide!

2o12 has been a good year in our house… a year, as I said, that has reminded us to live & love & speak – on purpose – with purpose!  In the cold months of winter, we found our entire household going ‘Back to School’ – Kayelyn to West Valley, & the rest of us to Soar.  We attended a Firestorm wknd with Kevin Dedmon with lots of Treasure Hunts going on throughout the Valley!  When things barely began to thaw, tennis season was upon us once again!  Kayelyn always has to juggle tennis tryouts & her DECA club competing at State – she did great on both fronts!  Dave continued to help lead worship at Soar, at church(es), & played in the Healing Rooms as well as volunteering at The Seasons.  Spring was all tennis, all the time – but we LOVE it & Kayelyn had a great season!  Summer was filled with our girlie going away on her own – traveling with friends to Lake Chelan, Moses Lake, & Summer camp.  She was also involved in a summer Intern program through our church.  SOMEHOW we managed to surprise my sister Kim & brought BOTH of my parents with us to visit on Whidbey Island!  We had a wet but wonderful time!  Kayelyn & I were blessed to be on a prophetic prayer team again this year for the Worldcast conference & I was honored to teach a prophetic art class at 1^st Pres.  We had a great weekend meeting my sweet cousin Kathy and her hubby Del, had a fun time with friends at Jazz in the Valley, & we took a trip to Portland to visit family & start off the season of Senior Photo Shoots!

Then, it was the beginning of the end… the start of Kayelyns’ Senior year! (Let the madness begin!) I continued on with Senior Portraits – for our kid, as well as for others’!  It seemed like within two months, I had another hobby attempting to turn into a business & I took several family portraits, senior sessions, & even shot a small wedding! I am still in prayer on whether to really pursue this but it sure has been FUN!  October arrived with a family celebration for my parents’ 50^th Anniversary!  Dave & I celebrated our 20^th, Kayelyn went to Homecoming, & started in with SATs & College Ap’s  - in addition to continuing with her job serving at Orchard Parks, being elected the President of her DECA club, & managing a full load at school!

In October I also – as if I didn’t have enough on my plate – bit off a new ‘challenge’… I stumbled upon a few amazing writer/bloggers (Ann Voskamp among them) & found a Bloggers Challenge to write on one theme, every day, for 31 days!  So – I jumped in – not on one blog, but TWO!  I (mostly) loved it.  In November, we hosted a W.A.R (Women At Risk) Int’l. jewelry party & raised over $1,200 to help support women who have been rescued out of human trafficking & retrained with a skill to give them income & free them from their past.  Kayelyn attended the Western Regional Leadership Conference in Seattle & we had a quiet relaxing Thanksgiving weekend. That brings us to December, where we kicked it off by hosting a Progressive Dinner with some Soar friends.  We are having an Ugly Sweater Game Night next weekend  & then I will be praying for few to no calls to report in for Jury Duty through the rest of the year! 

Even so – it’s my honor to serve… not just on a possible Jury – but to serve others around me… to go wherever He sends me & to Shine Bright… to Speak Life… to Be Love!

He is, after all, our example!  He lived His life on earth, giving it away… from flailing, clenched fists to outstretched, nail-pierced hands, He gave His life away!  

His call to us is nothing less…  To come & Adore Him… to fill up in His Presence, in His Word…  & then to go & spill out!

We pray as you celebrate the holidays & reflect on His story that you will see that God came near… that He became one of us, that He knows you and can identify with you, SO THAT you can identify with Him!  Yes… he became one of us, & everything changed!  

Merry Christmas and may you Prepare Him room... now, and always!!

~Dave, Karrilee, & Kayelyn~