The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”—”a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him’.”

Mark 1:1-3

Doesn’t seem very Christmasy does it?  But what a thought….the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah!  The whole reason Jesus was born. It was prophesied in Isaiah that a voice calling from the wilderness would prepare the way for Jesus. I would have expected some proclamation from heaven. Some loud voice booming from the sky.

But who did God use to prepare his way but a rather strange wilderness guy - John the Baptist. He did not use some Jewish leader or political leader or other famous person of the day, but a humble guy who dressed strange and wandered around in the wilderness eating honey and locusts.  Rather unlikely!

The scene of a path through the wilderness called to mind a photo I had taken out in the horse pasture. In the middle of the field was a path to the water trough that the horses had made and followed.  There is no path unless one horse has gone first and then the other horses follow. Each time a horse takes the path it becomes clearer and clearer. Another thing to notice is that it is a straight path to the life-sustaining water!  They don’t meander around in circles or crooked lines.

If I had no one tell me about Jesus and show me how to walk in relationship with Him, I would be left wandering around lost and unable to find the living water of Jesus! There have been many folks throughout my life that have helped me along the path and almost all of them were just ordinary people God placed in my life to direct me along the path or to nudge me back to the path if I have strayed off or taken a wrong turn. So…guess what, now I can be an ordinary person to guide someone else!! 

Another thought is that at the start of any new path in life (for example, the path of substance abuse recovery) it seems very daunting and can be hard to find or see where it is leading. But each time that path is taken by someone before me it becomes more visible and is easier to follow.  Then as I take that path each day myself, pretty soon others are following along behind me because they want to see how to find the good news I seem to have found.

As I go through my life and think I’m not good enough to lead someone else along the spiritual path, I remember the weird guy in the wilderness that was used to prepare the way for Jesus so that people could experience the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness!

I may not be the one preaching or teaching, but guess what, I may be like one of the horses that followed the path to the trough each day and made the way clearer and more visible to the rest of the herd. 

This Christmas season I will recommit to making the path to Jesus straight and clear. I will strive to live a life that is filled with love and joy so that someone would want to jump onto the path behind me.  I will not discount my usefulness to God and will look and listen for opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus.

Robin Ireland