Preparing for Christmas in Your Heart and Home

Girlfriends (A Podcast for Catholic Women)

Danielle Bean

Kids & Family, Parenting, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 810 Ratings

🗓️ 17 December 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Preparing for Christmas during advent shouldn't be that different from preparing for the arrival of a new baby. In today's episode, I reflect on the ways that our Advent waiting mirrors the kind of waiting we do while pregnant and expecting. Here are three simple ways we can focus on preparing for Jesus this Advent season. Clean. When we “nest” while pregnant, we prepare our homes and living spaces to welcome a new baby. While preparing for Jesus during Advent, we can get rid of some of our clutter and clean our homes, but even more importantly, we can clean our hearts and souls for him. We can go to confession, forgive those we need to forgive, and look for ways to let go of anger and resentment over the past. Choose. Just like we must choose what we will buy for a new baby, we need to choose how we will spend our money during Advent. What will we buy and how will it add to (not detract from) our celebration of Jesus during the upcoming Christmas season? We also must choose how we will spend our time. What things will we say “no” to in order to preserve our peace and sanity and really enjoy the upcoming family gatherings and celebrations? Savor. Not every moment of being pregnant is bliss, and neither is the Advent season, but there is peace, beauty, and joy in waiting if we look for it. Look for small moments to soak up the season, relax, pray, and connect with Jesus, even in the midst of the crazy-busy times ahead. *News and Updates: * My newest book, You Are Enough: What Women of the Bible Teach You About Your Mission and Worth, is available for order! Use the code, GIRLFRIENDS to receive ten percent off your order. Don’t miss out on this special available exclusively to listeners of the Girlfriends podcast. I can’t wait to share this book with you! Upcoming Events: Saturday, January 11, 2020 You’re Worth It Retreat St. Michael Church Exeter, NH February 20-23, 2020 Speaking at Los Angeles Religious Education Congress Anaheim, CA Saturday, March 7, 2020 You’re Worth It Retreat Precious Blood Parish Jasper, IN Saturday, March 28, 2020 Women’s Conference Norwich, CT

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Girlfriends, episode number 203.
0:03.9	Getting ready for Jesus in Advent.
0:11.4	Hello and welcome to girlfriends.
0:13.8	I'm Danielle Bean.
0:14.9	I'm a wife and a mom, and I am on a mission to help you know your worth as a woman
0:19.2	so you can find peace, balance, and joy
0:21.7	and family living. This week, we are talking about those last minute details of Advent and how we can
0:26.3	focus on Jesus. Let's get started.
0:43.0	Hey, girlfriends, how are you? Thanks for being here. Thanks for showing up for this late Advent season episode of the Girlfriends podcast. Are you going crazy yet? It's a crazy time of year.
0:50.3	Everybody keeps saying it, you know, and it happens every year. And yet every year I feel like
0:55.2	it's going to be different. This year is not going to be nuts. And I actually believe it. And then it
1:00.1	winds up being nuts. So the spirit of today's episode is to meet you where you are. To meet you
1:07.0	in whatever kind of advent you've been having, whatever kind of Advent you've been hoping to have,
1:12.7	whatever kind of Advent you've been disappointed to have, whatever it is, whatever's going on
1:19.2	in your Advent season this year, I want to meet you where you are and just encourage you
1:23.8	that Jesus is coming anyway, even if you didn't do all the things on your to-do list,
1:29.1	even if you messed up with these very basic spiritual goals maybe that you set for yourself,
1:34.2	Jesus is coming anyway. And sometimes I find a lot of kind of relief, maybe encouragement
1:41.0	in the fact that Jesus is coming anyway, that we can know that.
1:45.8	You know, and some of the crazy things that we're kind of preparing and trying to get everything
1:49.2	in place or the emotional stress that we're dealing with or multiple obligations we have to
1:54.6	friends and family and workplaces this time of year, or the financial stress you might be
	...

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