When the time draws near, mothers prepare. It’s universal, from animals to humans. The urge to be ready. Mothers clean previously undiscovered corners of their houses. Mothers bake and cook and freeze food. They bargain hunt. They busy their hands with sewing, painting, knitting, crafting. They read, pouring knowledge into their striving minds: What to do if this or that happens, what to expect with breastfeeding, when to seek the doctor, what to tell a sibling…
Did Mary nest? Was she eagerly sewing clothes (with what do you dress the Messiah?)? Cleaning her house? Granted, her nesting was interrupted by Caesar’s call for a census and a last-minute trip to Bethlehem, but I think she put her house in order.
Advent is the season of nesting. Cleaning the cobwebs from the heart to make room for the Christ-child. Emptying out the clutter that has crept in when attentions were turned toward the routine of work, school, parenting.
Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
Let us all be like expectant mother this season, preparing the way for the Savior.