Preparing

It is approximately five weeks before Easter Sunday and I'm beginning to think about our plans. The who, what and where of Easter weekend is important, isn't it?

What are my preparations? Am I preparing at all?  Do Easter baskets, and new Easter outfits count as preparations or perhaps lunch with the family on Easter Day?  

Honestly, it seems that once again my thoughts are up side down.  This is not a season of bunnies, candy, and dying eggs but one of remembering, reflecting, and preparing for a deeper Easter experience. An experience of preparation.  Just before Jesus was led into forty days in the wilderness: 

...John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ 

I wonder in these pre-Easter days; what John is calling us to understand?  Is this a personal question to each of us: 

Your name here, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.

What and how do I prepare the way for the Lord?  What are the straight paths?  This morning, I was working in my small garden and needed to prepare the ground for wildflower seeds I was planting.  The preparation involved scraping, and a bit of breaking up the ground so that the ground could receive and bring forth the most beautiful, colorful, delicate blooms.  Is this simple example a way forward for me to prepare?  In these next few weeks, will I allow a bit of scraping, a bit of loosening tough places inside me?  Will I make space amid the chaos of my thoughts, the rush of my days?  The work of preparation is not for the weak or faint-hearted.  But isn't preparation, in any sense, what makes possible the gift of receiving?  If my ground is not prepared, it can not receive.  

Perhaps in these weeks, I ask God to prepare me for all He has for me.  Perhaps it is a preparation of joy or a preparation of surrender or healing.  Could it simply be, "God, prepare me for life, prepare me to find hope, to find You"?  

One of God's greatest traits is that He always goes before us.  So before I get confused in my role of preparation, I see that He is also preparing.  In Psalm 23, we read that "He [God] has gone to prepare a table for us."  More preparation is happening, even for God.  He is preparing for us.  Our God loved us first and taught us love.  And now, He prepares for us even as we prepare for Him.

What does your Easter preparation look like?