A voice cries out:
“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.
Then 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: 3-5
In the second week of Advent, we light the candle of peace.
Did you know, peace comes to us, God comes to us, in the middle of the lives we are actually living?
I have been subject to a false belief about God. I have thought that I had to get everything pulled together, organized, under control, in order to receive God’s peace. That God needed me to provide a clean slate, a clear canvas, in order to impart peace.
It isn’t God who needs that. It’s me. God does not wait for me to have all my ducks in a row before showing up in my life. But an overcrowded life does keep me from noticing God as well as I can with a little more mental space.
Mental space and order are helpful to my part of this relationship. But God will show up, will move, regardless.
In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord. Right in the middle of the wilderness, amidst the mess and overgrowth and rampant non-orderliness, that’s where we prepare the way of the Lord. Right in the middle of it all.
Friend, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. All flesh. That includes us. Thanks be to God.
Lindy Thompson 