Prepare the Way

Day 40
Read: Psalm 118:21-29, Luke 11:1-11

Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar. (Psalm 118:27)

Our lives are cluttered, but it’s not fitting to leave our souls a mess for God. His presence calls us to prepare a place suitable for him. Chaotic schedules hinder God’s movement in our lives. If he is always bumping up against piano lessons and late nights at the office and back-to-back social events, we haven’t given him the space he deserves. We need to prepare a place fit for him.

Today, on Palm Sunday, we prepare the way for the Lord. We do not make the way–only God makes the way– but we prepare it. We clear our lives of the debris that has collected, do a thorough cleaning, and make the way fit for a king. We give God space to move and to act in our lives. Like the psalmist, we make these preparations in gratitude for the things God has done, especially for his faithfulness to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus, which we rehearse during the coming week.

Our preparations include not only recounting God’s steadfast love and making space for God’s work, but also offering ourselves to him. We take the meager things we have–cloaks and branches–and make them part of our sacrifice to the Lord by spreading them before him. With those things no longer cluttering our lives, we are freer to follow him. –Grace Claus

Prayer: Blessed Lord, we’re preparing the way. Come in, come in.