This picture here? It is the stack of books I’m working through. One is for our family Jesse Tree as we prepare for Advent, another is one a friend gave me years and years ago that I just know it is time to buckle down and read, and the last is one my heart is finally ready to hear.

We intended to complete the very same book for Advent last year… but things didn’t go as planned. Seems that happens a lot. Between now and Christmas I am sure there are a lot of things (way too many in fact) that I won’t get done. Just how it is, I suppose. I can’t add more hours to the day so I have to get realistic, figure out what really matters and maybe lower my expectations. But, beyond this stack of books, in an effort to center my heart each day leading up to Christmas I’m going to be focusing on a scripture (prophecy about the Messiah, a portion of the Christmas story, or scripture about Jesus).

You can join in that project if you’d like each morning over on Instagram. Here’s is today’s scripture:

How are you preparing your heart this Christmas season? What traditions did you have growing up?