I walked past the Advent wreath at Mass this weekend and felt that familiar jolt of recognition. Ours is still packed in a storage bin in a corner of the basement. The candles aren’t ready. Nothing is set out. I haven’t planned a single thing for my prayer life. We haven’t talked about Advent as a family.

If you’re in the same spot, you’re in good company.

Advent always begins four Sundays before Christmas, but it never seems to wait for us to be ready.

If you’re wondering what Advent really means, it isn’t a countdown or a set of projects. Advent is the Church’s season of waiting for Christ. The word itself means “arrival” or “coming,” and at its heart Advent is about preparing room for God even when life feels unprepared.

When Advent Shows Up Before You're Ready (and What Advent Really Means)

Most years I promise myself that this will be the one where I finally get it right. More focus. More intentional prayer. More calm parenting. This year I didn’t even pretend.

Life just kept rolling. One minute I was thinking through parish projects, and the next I was sitting at the kitchen counter discussing Christmas nail colors with our seven-year-old. That conversation alone derailed at least three other plans I thought I had.

And then December shows up anyway.

The first week of Advent tends to expose whatever’s raw in me. The gap between who I want to be and who I actually am. The tension between the clean, slow, contemplative season I imagine and the messy reality that’s already waiting at the door.

It’s uncomfortable. But the discomfort is honest. And the honesty feels like the one place where God can actually work.

The Flood of Good Ideas That Don’t Help

Scrolling through my feed didn’t help. Everyone has a system: 25-day devotionals, color-coded Jesse Tree plans, beautiful reflections queued up from every corner of the Catholic internet. All good things. All overwhelming if you’re not ready for any of them.

Advent isn’t a countdown. It’s the slow work of making room for Jesus in our hearts and our lives.

For a long time I thought being “prepared” for Advent meant saying yes to more. More prayer. More structure. More activities. More anything.

But I’m learning that real preparation looks more like clearing space than filling it.

If you want a deeper sense of what Advent is really about, we’ve also shared how God reveals Himself in the ordinary rhythms of life in this reflection on finding God in the stories around us.

One Thing. Just One.

If you’re feeling scattered or spiritually cluttered, don’t add twelve new practices to fix it. Pick one thing. One way to show up this week with your whole heart instead of your whole to-do list.

• Lighting a single candle and sitting quietly for two minutes in God's presence.
• Reading Sunday’s Gospel before bed.
• Asking your family at dinner: “Where did you see God today?”
• Letting yourself be still long enough to notice what hurts and asking Jesus into that place.

God isn’t waiting for your calendar to be perfect. He slips into the unprepared places more easily than the polished ones.

Let This Be Enough

I don’t know what the next four weeks will look like in your house or mine. But I trust that God is already at work in the corners of our lives.

So here’s my one thing this week: clear a bit of space inside and pay attention.

Maybe that’s the real meaning of Advent: trusting that Jesus comes into the honest places we offer Him.

What will your one thing be?

If you’re not sure, ask Jesus quietly tonight, “Where do you want to meet me?” Sit with whatever rises. Let that be enough.

Come, Lord Jesus.