Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Edna Paige
Preparation
Scripture: Matthew 24:44 (NRSV) Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
Devotion: I decided if I was going to write about it, I better look up the meaning. It says the “coming” or “arrival.” The advent season is focused on four Sundays of preparation for Jesus’ coming.
Thanksgiving to Christmas on a farm in the Texas panhandle was an ending of harvest, and school was regular, all but Christmas Day. I never heard the word Advent until after we moved to Fort Worth.
My mother and grandmother did a lot of food preparation for the company we would have over Christmas time. The Maxwell Farm was home to seven children. If there were time, we would look for a tree on the property and bring it in to decorate.
A crop would mean some big hearty singing in the little white church about a mile from our house. For the people, their prayer was a big thing. My memory still pops up the men standing around the walls at pictures of all the young men serving in the military in WWII from this community. Each Sunday, I can hear my grandfather with his hand on a picture, praying for that young man to be safe. I learned what prayer could do for us when these soldiers all came home. Was this God showing us what He can do? Arrival! Jesus was coming for birth as a human. He said to the disciples at the end of his life, “I’m coming back.” We need to be prepared.
Prayer: Lord, help us to be ready for your coming. Amen.
AΩ
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