It is now 40 days until Christmas, the start of Celtic Advent – the 40 days of preperation for Christmas mirroring the 40 days of Lent.

Preperation for Christmas should mean focussing on repentance, humbling and interior housecleaning. It is a time to remove the boulders that stand in the way which symbolise those things I have done which I shouldn’t have, and fill in the potholes which are the things I should have done but have not.

It is a time for focus which I hope will protect me a little from the commercialisation and stress of Christmas so that I can focus on this cosmic changing event of the incarnation in a way that will have a fresh and vibrant impact upon me. Being a naturally slower person, the 40 rather than 24 days may give me a better chance.