The Advent season is all about being ready—being ready to celebrate the birth of the babe in Bethlehem, of course, but also ready to welcome “the day of the Lord” as the Hebrew scriptures put it. While celebratory preparations are going on all around us, getting ready is internal work, making sure that the manger of our heart is prepared to receive the love of God, however and whenever it may come to us. That involves cleaning out the manger and lining it with fresh straw to welcome the holy Presence. Take a moment to reflect on that manger metaphor and consider what internal action might be called for in your life during the season of Advent.

The prophet Isaiah provides a hope-filled image of what we call “the 2nd coming” will be like as he points out: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” In light of the circumstances around the world, that picture is hard for us even to imagine. But in another moment of meditation, take a couple of deep, cleansing breaths and begin to center down; let the pain of the world blow away with the breath of the Spirit; feel the freshness of that cleansing grace freeing you; welcome the healing presence of the love of God as it suffuses your being; experience all that you think or say or do come forth from the motivation of Love; realize all beings on the planet are experiencing and acting from that same motivation; see the reality of Isaiah’s prophecy in your mind’s eye. That’s what it can be when we are ready to let God “teach us his ways and. . . walk in his paths.”

As Paul tells us in our epistle lesson, “The night is far gone, the day is near.” It is time for us to wake up and “walk in the light of the Lord!” Are you ready?