We pulled into our garage at 11pm and carried our sleeping children to their beds. While my husband unpacked in our bedroom, I sat in the living room and nursed the baby. After being gone for a week, it felt so good to be back in our own home.

That is, until I heard something on the front porch. I looked across the entryway and through the dining room window, certain I had seen a dark figure looking into our garage. My heart was pounding and I became hyper alert. The dark figure moved to just outside dining room windows. I looked down at the baby in my arms and, in a loud whisper, I called my husband’s name.

The screen door opened and, as the knob on the front door began to twist, I yelled, “There’s someone trying to get in the house!!” I was frozen with fear while my husband ran down the hall, scanned out the window, and flipped on the porch light. He then gently cracked open the door and . . . said hello to a police officer.

We had told our local police department that we would be out of town that week and asked them to look after our home. Every night they had circled the house, checking all the windows and doors, and since we’d come home a night early, we had caught them in the act.

In Jesus’ parable, He says that if the master of the house knew when the thief was coming, he would have been prepared. (See Matthew 24:43.) But we don’t know when someone will try to break into our home, and we definitely don’t know when Christ will return. So we must be ever ready, throwing off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of God. (See Romans 13:12.)

On this first Sunday of Advent, let us not look just to the Creche in anticipation, but let us look to the sky as we prepare.

[bctt tweet="We must be ever ready. // @BonnieEngstrom" username="blessedisshe__"]

This podcast reminds us to get to know Jesus now so that He's not a stranger when He comes again.

Bonnie Engstrom is a writer, baker, speaker, and homemaker. She lives with her husband and eight children in Illinois. Bonnie is the author of "61 Minutes to a Miracle" which tells the story of her son's miracle that was approved by Pope Francis for the beatification of Venerable Fulton Sheen. She likes to bake, putz about the yard, and tell her kids to tidy the house. She is the author of the Blessed Conversations Mystery: Believe study found here. You can find out more about her here.