Luke 1:17
He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.
Not sure if you've heard… I'm a planner. This is a trait my mother has and one that I have seen in my older son. When I pick him up from school he wants to know what we will be doing for the rest of the night. And you can bet that 8:30 won't come on Saturday morning before he asks what we are doing that day. He even made a checklist for my niece's birthday party: Give Maddy her present. Sing Happy Birthday. Eat cake. I sarcasticly suggested he add "Have fun" to the list.
I know I can take this planning thing too far, but I've got to tell you, I'm comforted knowing that God planned too! In order to fulfill the old testament prophecies, things had to play out a certain way. Part of that plan was for John the Baptist to be a messenger, preparing the way for Jesus.
So if God had a plan leading up to Jesus' birth, shouldn't we? No, we aren't responsible for the birth of Christ, but we have been entrusted with the role of proclaiming the Good News (ie JESUS!). So what can we do between today and December 25th? If you're like me, your to-do list and calendar is full and you've said - NO MORE! I'm at my max. So here's a challenge. Take something off the list. Go ahead. Do it. Use that strikethrough font tool if you need to. If it's plans to meet up with someone, tell them why you're cancelling. You need a moment of peace. I bet they will understand and maybe even be relieved.
Sometimes preparing means doing less of the stuff that makes us feel busy and more of the stuff that makes us slow down. Let's try to get better at that kind of preparing.
