Preparing the way

It seems easy enough, the road to Bethlehem that is. When we think of the Joe and Mary's little journey from Nazareth we often picture the tired father trudging along in front of the expectant mother on the donkey's back. Slowly they venture through the desert sands and sandstorms with some mystical compass that gets them to Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. I have a nagging feeling deep inside myself that there was indeed a road. Not just an obscure road but a well travelled and well marked one at that. There were few real obstacles in the way other than it took time to travel the near 100 miles.

Perhaps we want a romantic idea of the nativity. One with toil and impossible odds that lead to the moment a baby was born in a stable. Yet I doubt there was the giant sand storms or wild animals stocking the two travelers or even Mary fainting several time before arrival. I bet the actual trip was pretty uneventful and like any other long trip.

Yet I bet the real obstacles lingered inside them every step along the road. The thoughts and fear and hopes and dreams that must have been going through their minds. I would bet they were amazing. Not only did they have normal first time parent stuff but they also had those messages from the angels to think about. And how does one figure out if they are good enough to be the parents of God and not only that, how do they rectify their own sin before He comes into the world. The amount of silence and prayer must have been incredible along the road. How much of their sin and baggage did this duo leave behind with every mile they got closer to their divine destiny?

So here we are in Advent, the time to prepare the way. A lot of pastor's use the analogy of traveling the road to Bethlehem. But what if you did actually prepare your heart of the Savior's birth? I am not talking about getting hyped up for the holidays or mass repentance of the world to be amazingly pure for the 25th of December. What if we took the time to be silent, pray, and ponder our divine destiny with Jesus. The real call of Advent is to consider a world before the Messiah was with us and then to be ready for a world that has Him in a real and tangible way. Let's be real folks. Jesus isn't a baby anymore. That is not the point of all this. So today as we prepare the way, let us be like Mary and Joseph and take the time to wonder what it means to have JESUS in this world. How that now that He is here . . . everything. . . everything . . . EVERYTHING has changed. So if you want to believe in this Advent then prepare for everything to change.