There are a lot of fascinating, inspiring, and intriguing people in the Bible who, over the years, have caught my eye and caught my heart. People who I want to meet in heaven, different Saints who I have read about or prayed to, and some who have even been martyred for their faith. And then there are the ones who are just downright intriguing like John the Baptist. That guy was a survivalist before that was even a thing!

He lived in and off of the desert eating locust and honey – I mean how cool is that? What do you do with locust – cook them? Probably pretty crunchy… and they would definitely need a lot of honey on them to eat! But what impresses me the most about John the Baptist is his singlemindedness. God gave him one job and one job only, and he did it to the upmost of his abilities. He was to be that voice crying out in the desert, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” And that is what he did, no one could get him off of that path – not kings, not anybody. He proclaimed a Gospel of repentance to all that would listen no matter what the cost.

So, what does this mean – to prepare the way of the Lord? Was this meant to prepare society for the coming or was this meant more individually for all of us? Well, I think it is both, but it starts with us.

You see, we all must prepare the way of the Lord by preparing for his coming. The Gospel continues in the next verse saying, “Make straight his paths.” Well, we know during Advent that we need to prepare for his coming, but what paths need to be made straight? 

Here’s what John is telling us even today. We are to prepare a straight and easy path for the Lord… straight into our hearts. He will come if we ask and let him into our hearts, but it is up to us to reach out to him, to invite him in. This is our Advent challenge straight from my guy… John the Baptist.

So, how? How do we make a straight and smooth path into our hearts for Jesus? If we think about what blocks that straight path, we can all probably come up with a list that may feel a little uncomfortable. John said to repent for our sins and scores of people did and came to him to be baptized. So, a reconciliation with God is an excellent step for us during Advent. 

We need to prepare for his coming during Advent, and we are a week in. Have we? Have we prepared? Have we slowed down and found some time in silence to welcome Jesus into our hearts? Or are we doubling down on shopping as we prepare for a day… and not for a coming? 

Sometimes we feel as though we are too busy to pray because of that long list of to-dos, but I say we are too busy not to pray! In times of silence and in times of prayer, we can in fact unclench, decompress, and reflect on our own priorities. We can reassess what our life would be like with a straight path to our hearts… and more importantly we can contemplate what our life would look like if he was firmly and comfortably entrenched in our hearts.

If you like how that looks, how that feels, how that relationship with him can change you in so many ways for the better… then ask him in. Make the path straight and smooth, ask him for help preparing for his coming, and maybe also for a few things on that to do list. And when you do, you will find your priorities are suddenly re-aligned, some of the pressing things in our lives suddenly become less pressing and you know what else? We find time and we find peace. And isn’t that what we are supposed to find at Christmas? That peace of Christmas in our hearts and in our lives? Well I think we just found that formula to get that peace, that right balance and that love in our hearts. And by doing so we have in fact prepared the way of the Lord and made straight his paths. 

Our gift to him this Christmas is that path, and his gift to us is his peace.