There are a million things to do before Christmas, sometimes we even start in September preparing. There are gifts to buy, travel plans to make, meals to plan and let’s not forget worship services to attend. Yet what so easily gets lost is that we need to take time to PREPARE ourselves too. With everything going on we don’t always take the time to make sure we are preparing our hearts to meet Jesus. The primary way we prepare to meet Jesus is through repentance. Repentance is more than just feeling bad about the things we do wrong. Repentance is turning away from our sin. Yes, that means we feel bad about the things that we do wrong, but it also means resolving to not repeat our mistakes. The other part of repentance is turning to God to forgiveness. Our hearts are prepared to meet Jesus when we recognize our sins, all the foolish things we have done, and trust in Jesus to forgive us. The hymn writer said it so beautifully, “Then cleansed be ev’ry life from sin and furnished for a guest within, and let us all our hearts prepare for Christ to come and enter there.” (CW93 #16)