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“Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the
wilderness for the LORD! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. (Isaiah 40:3-4)
Prepare, prepare, prepare. In advent time we do a lot of preparation. We prepare because most of us will have family or friends coming to our houses, or we might be traveling ourselves and there are preparations to be made.
Thinking back to my college years in Arkansas, I would look forward to going back home every Christmas and every summer. My siblings later told me that though they loved me coming home, my mom would make them work harder than usual, two or three days before I arrived. My mom wanted the house spotless clean for my arrival. In fact, later when I visited with my husband and my children, my siblings said the work doubled. Sometimes my mom would have them pressure wash the front of the house and even do paint repairs to the front of the house. Wow!!! I had no idea. I would get home and be so excited to be with family, I did not realize all the preparations done prior to my visit. I guess my mom was so excited to see us come home, she wanted everything to be perfect.
In the scripture above, the prophet Isaiah, speaks of preparing the way for the coming Messiah. How do we prepare to celebrate the greatest gift we have received? We Pause, Prepare, and Remember. Pausing is hard for us nowadays. We are so busy. We prepare by meditating and reflecting. We remember by
seeing how God has been faithful to us. Through the rough patches and through the joyful moments, God has been with us! Hallelujah!
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