We are almost halfway through Advent! Christmas will be here in less than two weeks! Are you prepared for Jesus’ arrival? Here’s a somewhat lighter lesson for you.
One holiday season, a newlywed friend of my mother’s called on the phone. The bride wanted advice on how to prepare chicken using her grandmother’s family recipe.
“What seems to be the problem?” my mother asked.
“Well, the first step says to put the chicken in a kettle.”
Perplexed, my mother asked again where the difficulty lay.
“Well, I can’t get the chicken in past the neck of the kettle!”
With admirable self-control, my mother waited until she got off the phone to burst out laughing. The bride had tried to squeeze the chicken in the only kind of kettle she knew of…a tea kettle!
2 Tim. 2:21 says, “If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.”
By staying constantly vigilant and keeping our hearts clean, we can become a special utensil – perhaps a tea kettle? – to serve exactly the right function in God’s plan. And thus we have one more step in our preparation for Christmas: Stay alert, always ready for God to use us.
