Isaiah 40:3–5 I am so thankful that throughout Scripture God chooses to talk to us in these types of pictures and metaphors, because it appropriately grabs us in exactly the right ways to help us know how to prepare our hearts in our waiting. Whether we are preparing and waiting in remembrance of what Christmas was and is to us today, or whether it is in preparing and waiting for Jesus’s second coming, our preparation and waiting is best guided not by what particularly needs to happen, but rather, by what (or who) you are preparing and waiting for.

Isaiah 9:2, 6–7 Hope and promise drives much of our endeavors as humans. We hope that a certain school or college, outfit, sports team, job, friend, boyfriend or girlfriend, or spouse will bring us everything we ever hoped and wanted. When we don’t have everything we have hoped for, we look for promises. Promises that tell us if we just buy a certain item, say the right thing, engage with the right people, then our hopes will be fulfilled. Do you know and need the great promise of God found in the manger this Christmas season?