True confession: I do not have a single Christmas item up in my apartment. This is not because I am a curmudgeon, or lazy or even just cheap. It’s because I have to do an awful lot of other preparation first. My prayer for Advent is simple: “Make a straight highway in my heart to You, Lord.”
It’s my personal take on Isaiah 40:3-4, and–alas!–there’s way more roadwork than time to do it. I look around and see ample rough ground and the rugged places in my heart. I also note I have this wee little tendency to veer around the potholes of my sins, take detours to visit idols, and get stuck in the ruts of my worldly passions. Did I mention that my attention is often drawn to the desert scenery, too? And that the reason John the Baptist would be shouting is because I’m just the tiniest bit self-absorbed?
So I’m tending to the potholes in my soul. It’s a different kind of getting ready for Christmas, this road-straightening and valley-filling and making of the high places low in my soul. I need it far more than evergreens and bow and packages. For when Christmas Day dawns I don’t really want a festive-looking house. What I want is a heart that’s ready for Jesus.
