Shortly after we were married, I called home and told my husband that my father would be joining us for supper. There was a pause on the other end of the phone. “Have you seen our kitchen?”
“No worries,” I told my husband, “We won’t be there for an hour.”
An hour later I arrived with my father to find my husband in a relatively clean kitchen making supper. I was amazed until after Dad left and I discovered the stack of dirty dishes hiding in the oven. My husband laughed and said he had to do fast preparation, because ready or not his new father-in-law was on his way.
We are now into February, long considered one of the most depressing months. Spring is far away and the nights are long and cold. Now is the time when we need Advent. Now is the time for us to prepare. Ready or not a messenger is coming to prepare the way for a new covenant, one that will be written on our hearts. Ready or not, God is working in our lives to enlarge God’s promises. God has made an everlasting covenant because God loves us with an everlasting love.
Dear Lord, in the darkness of these long winter nights, help us to prepare for the coming messenger of hope and to hold on to the promise of your everlasting love. Amen. — VB