First Baptist Church St. Simons Island

Prepare the Way of the Lord

Prepare the Way of the Lord

Mark 1:3

As I read this scripture verse, I can’t help but think of my own responsibility to my children to plant a seed of preparation for this Advent season. No one plants seeds one day and expects a harvest in the morning. There are things to do. We are called to cultivate our lives and rest in the fact that God has our future in his hands.

The first and most important thing we can do to prepare our children for Advent is to prepare ourselves first. After all, if we are impatient and crabby – pressured by all the busyness of this season – we won’t be very good at teaching our children anything about quiet, expectant waiting. If they never hear us talk about what we long for from the Lord, how will they learn about this kind of longing? And, if they hear “the coming of Jesus” talked about at church, and perhaps at school, but never hear us talk about the coming of Jesus, what kind of message will we be giving them?

Of course, our children will be watching us and listening to us – what we say and do, and what we fail to say and do, so the first thing we can give our children is our commitment to enter Advent as deeply as we can. We want to clear our own Spirit so that we can be present to theirs. The graces we receive can be the graces we share with them. The blessings of God need to flow through us to others around us – let’s give him a way to do so.

Prayer: God, help us prepare a way in our lives so that we develop Godly ways, Godly habits, Godly consistency, and Godly practices. Help us to turn all our holy places into holy ways that carry us throughout our daily lives. Amen.