23 December 2017 - preparation provided

Today's Readings (Audio)

Thus says the Lord GOD:
Lo, I am sending my messenger
to prepare the way before me;
And suddenly there will come to the temple
the LORD whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.

The LORD is coming. He is close at hand. His coming is meant to be the fulfillment of all our innermost desires and longings. The one who comes is the one we seek, the messenger we desire. But do we recognize this desire within us? If we don't, how will we recognize the fulfillment of the desire when he arrives?

We often only experience the immediate and superficial manifestations of our desires. We don't realize that there is something deeper at our very core that we want, a need we foolishly try to fill with other things, a God-shaped hole within us that we try to fill with everything but God. It is that very hole that the LORD comes to fill. He longs to dwell in us, to fill the place in us that is meant for him alone. Fortunately, he himself helps us to prepare for his coming.

Lo, I will send you
Elijah, the prophet,
Before the day of the LORD comes,
the great and terrible day,
To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,
and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike
the land with doom.

We need to get in agreement with the LORD. This means we need to embrace not only his coming, but also the plan he has for us to prepare for his coming. We need to let ourselves be willing to let ourselves experience some of the quiet that is forced on Zechariah. We need to fill that silence more with the words God gives us rather than with our own words.

So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. 
He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name,"
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.

We don't have to worry about missing the messenger this Christmas unless we choose to ignore all that God is doing to help us be ready. He himself will give the moments of silence in which we are meant to agree with his word and his plan. We just need to agree. If we do, nothing can prevent us from being prepared.