Prepare the Way

Prepare the Way

The first week of Advent is traditionally dedicated to hope — hope for the coming of Christ. In ancient royal visits, roads would be repaired, valleys filled, hills leveled, to prepare the path for a king. John the Baptist quoted Isaiah 40:3 to describe his own mission: he was the voice in the wilderness, calling people to make straight the paths in their hearts. The Advent preparation is not primarily external decoration — it is the inner clearing of the obstacles that prevent the King from entering: pride, distraction, unconfessed sin, hardened habits.

Isaiah 40:3-4 describes a road-building project in the wilderness: fill the valleys (areas of emptiness and depression), level the mountains and hills (areas of pride and self-sufficiency), straighten the crooked (areas of dishonesty and double-dealing), smooth the rough ground (areas of harsh and abrasive character). Each of these is an interior spiritual task. Advent is the season of this interior preparation — not the decorating and giving and celebrating, but the clearing and straightening and leveling that makes room for the One who comes. What in you needs to be leveled, filled, straightened, or smoothed before the King arrives?