A PRAYER OF PREPARATION

For Advent II

Dear Lord,

As I align my daily habits to a posture of preparation in the tangible details, help me to first align the posture of my heart in the sacred details. 

This Christmas season, even before the decorating and wrapping and baking, may I set aside time to ponder the miracle of your birth, that silent, holy night. 

Grant that I would steward well, my time and resources. 

Just as PERFECT PREPARATION was in order for sending us the Savior of the world,

let the PROPER PREPARATION make my home and my life a place where gracious hospitality and your spirit dwells. 

A voice cries:  “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  Isaiah 40:3-4 ESV

When obstacles and expectations create uneven ground, stir my heart in the preparation O God, to walk on level ground.  When darkness of the valley overshadows, let it be your presence that prepares me and lifts me up. 

As this Christmas Season brings a spirit of gathering and celebration with family and friends…Lord, may I not just prepare gifts and goodies for this moment…

But by your spirit, let gifts and goodness flow in every moment…making straight in the desert a highway for my God.

That first Christmas was entwined in both the grandest and the humblest of preparations. May the details of my life this Christmas season and beyond, be no different. 

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  Isaiah 40: 5 ESV

Until you come again, Amen and Amen.