1 Peter 1:13, Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
We spend so much time preparing for Christmas—home decorating, purchasing gifts, preparing travels—that we forget about Advent entirely. How might we prepare our minds for action? Share the Good News with our neighbour, give to the poor, visit the sick, serve our soldiers who cannot come home for Christmas, and so on. We remain sober-minded by remembering “the reason for the season”—Jesus’ advent as an infant to die for you and me and rise from the dead. His First Advent is why we can set our hope in His Second Advent. His First Advent did not fail, and so we can set our hope in His Second Advent when He will fully reveal Himself and bring us into His grace in God’s kingdom.
The Lutheran Column 