Advent....A Time of Preparation

Last year on the first Sunday of Advent I decided to pen my own devotional thoughts each day leading up to Christmas Day.  I would like to share them with you, not because I think I can write anything profound.  I want to share them with you in hopes that they might help prepare your hearts for Christmas and that you will have a more meaningful and blessed season because you have taken time to focus on HIM. 

Advent Day I (Isaiah 40)
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  “ Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth;
5 The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together;


To prepare...to get ready for...to anticipate...to look forward to......
This is what we do daily.  Whether it is to prepare for our daily routine or prepare for a special event we realize that things go better when we intentionally prepare ourselves for the day ahead.

So it is with Christmas time.  Preparing ourselves helps us enjoy the season more.  That's what Advent is all about.  Advent means "coming" of an important event.  Advent season officially begins on the Sunday closest to November 30th and lasts until Christmas Eve.  It is a time that we should spend in anticipation of the celebration of the coming of our Lord Jesus.  Unfortunately, we usually spend it caught up in the whirlwind of shopping, decorating, partying, etc.  Not that any of those things are wrong by themselves.  But when that is the major focus of the season then we are losing the meaning of Christmas. 

So I invite you to join with me in intentionally preparing for the blessed event of Christmas and the HOPE it brings.  Continuing in Isaiah 40 are some of my favorite verses:

28 Have you not known?  Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.  His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Prayer:  Thank you God for the HOPE we have in Jesus.