Second Sunday of Advent Is 40:1-5, 9-11 Ps 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14 2 Pt 3:8-14 Mk 1:1-8

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections Praying Advent

I love advent readings. They’re so poetic! Sometimes, though, I think I get a little too caught up in the aura of Christmas-coming. I don’t pay attention to what the pretty words are actually saying. With this in mind, I read today’s readings in a different light and found myself baffled.

In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! -Isaiah 40:3

How many times have we heard these words? Prepare the way! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! But have we ever stopped to consider where the prophet suggests we prepare the way for the King? In the desert. In the wasteland. What?! There’s nothing in either of those places (pardon my generalization, dear Southwestern United States readers)! Why would we seek to prepare a place fit for the best of the best in the worst of the worst?

I had to take this question to prayer. Doing so, though, I realized that perhaps we must prepare the most barren parts of the earth for the Lord because, sometimes, it’s in the desert, in the wasteland, in the midst of nothingness, that we are found. In the midst of our busy lives, we still find ourselves yearning for more and searching for fruit. And so, we’re called to make room for the Lord right where we’re at: searching, in the desert of our lives, sometimes a little lost and turned around.

This week our challenge is to recognize where we are spiritually, whether that’s metaphorically dry in the desert or rich in a land flowing with milk and honey (or cider and hot chocolate…). We’re called to prepare ourselves wherever we are for the coming of the King, recognizing that if we put forth the effort to prepare a place for him in our hearts, God will not leave us hanging.

Let’s meditate on the peace that comes as we prepare our hearts well.

Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God. -Isaiah 40:1