“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way before you.” Luke 7:27

When I wrote my book, I taped chapter titles to Tupperware containers and lined them up on an old book case. Whenever an idea came to me while I was out and about, I’d jot it down on an index card and drop it into the container it correlated with when I got home.

When the time came to write that chapter, I’d dump out the container, arrange the index cards in a logical order, pray to the Holy Spirit to work through me, and get to work. There was no writer’s block to contend with. Like a puzzle, the pieces were all there. It’s as if that system prepared the way for each and every chapter.

The same holds true for Advent.

If we want to have a meaningful Advent and find our way to the stable for Jesus’ birth, we have to prepare the way. We need to put our Advent wreath front and center with the devotional we want to use right beside it.

In my house, we’re using Advent in Narnia. As a family, we watched the Disney version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe at the beginning of Advent. Now, each day, I put the book in the center of our middle island so I can’t miss it.

There are still days when we don’t gather, light the candle or read the reflections. We’re in that stage where everyone is going in different directions and it’s rare that we’re all in the same place at the same time.

But the preparations have been made. So, when that golden moment happens when we’re all together, the stage is set.

We are John the Baptist in our homes, workplace and community. If we want to find Jesus, and lead others to Him, we have to prepare the way. Once it’s prepared, we then need to walk on it, taking others by the hand to join us.

Questions for Reflection:

• Do I recognize that I’m being called, like John the Baptist, to prepare the way to Jesus for myself and others?
• What resources/devotionals/traditions do I use to do so?

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