Easy or hard road

Jesus, help me make your job easy! Amen.

John the Baptist was in the desert when he heard Jesus was going to start teaching people about God. Right away, John went all over the country, saying, "Get ready for Jesus! Fill up the valleys and cut down the mountains, and make a straight road for Him to travel!"

All kids know that when your parents want you to do something, there are two paths you can take: You can make it easy for them or make it so hard that everyone gets totally frustrated!

The easy path might be just going to bed when it's bedtime. The hard one is when you complain that it's too early, beg for more time, stall by asking for water or saying your room is too cold, demand to change into different pajamas -- and on and on.

Adults aren't too different from children sometimes. One of those times is in this week's Gospel (Luke 3:1-6), when John the Baptist tells everyone Jesus is coming -- and begs them to make Jesus' job easy.

The people John taught had heard lots of fakers say, "I'm the Messiah; I've come to save the world." When John said Jesus really was the Son of God and they should listen to Him, they didn't believe it right away.

Kids might take the hard road by putting off bedtime until their parents get upset; the people in the Gospel story took that road by rolling their eyes and ignoring John.

You can make it easy for your parents by just doing what they ask sometimes without putting it off. John told the people he met to "make Jesus' job easy! Make Jesus feel like you've cut down mountains and filled in valleys so He can walk in a straight line, and bring God's love right into your hearts."