Fourth Gift of Advent: Come As You Are

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ~Jesus

All Who Are Weary

The very first Christmas, God threw a party. The proper attire was, “come as you are.” The dress code hasn’t changed, but I don’t really believe it.  I’m the one just outside, checking to see who the bouncers let in. Am I dressed well enough? Better wait and observe. If I stay in the shadows it won’t matter as much, if my name isn’t mentioned on the VIP list.

I pray for a miracle and am shocked when it comes. I wager on freedom yet  stay in my cell. I say I am confident that grace wins the day, then judge every moment by how well I do.

It’s for people like me, and I suspect some of you, that the message of the Bible is, “Come as you are.”

Lay down the burden you weren’t meant to bear–the burden of you. You’ve carried too long the weight of your being. You’ve labored enough to find proof of your worth, a blueprint for earning the space that you take.

What better time than now, as we pause near the stable, waiting in silence for the angel’s glad cue? What better time than Advent, when every carol reminds us the coming of Jesus is a gift, not a pay-check?

There’s no better time than now to give Him your burden–there’s no list by the manger, just a hand-lettered sign that says,

Come as you are.

“Come to God, then, my brother, my sister, with all your desires and instincts, all your lofty ideals.

Come with your longing for purity and unselfishness, all your yearning to love and be true, all your aspirations after self-forgetfulness and child-life in the breath of the Father.

Come to him with all your weaknesses, all your shames, all your futilities.

Come with your helplessness over your own thoughts; with all your failures, yes, the sick sense of having missed the tide of true affairs.

Come to him with all your doubts, fears, dishonesties, meanness, paltriness, misjudgments, weariness, disappointment and staleness.

Be sure he will take you with all your miserable brood into the care of his limitless heart!”

George MacDonald (1824-1905)

What does “Come as you are” mean for you?

Photograph, Southern Oregon, Melanie Hunt