Making room and making right

For many of us, as we prepare for Christmas we put our physical world through a transformation to make room for our Christmas decorations. Pastor Barbara Moyer Lehman described how she got her home ready for Christmas and then commented on her realization that her interior landscape also needs to be prepared for the coming of Jesus. In Mark 1:1-18, John the Baptist calls all of us to prepare a place for Jesus, to make a way for Jesus to enter into our lives. Pastor Barbara said that this "preparation" is about cleaning in our inner house. We need to examine our hearts and make things right with God and with others. It is hard and humbling work. It is also about making space for Jesus. What must we let go of to make room in our lives for God? Isaiah 40:1-11 describes God as a tender and loving shepherd. God desires to put us on God's lap, to rock us and sing to us, to give us strength for the tasks ahead, to give us strength to prepare ourselves to receive Jesus.