During Advent, we are called to prepare the way . . . to “make straight the path” and make smooth what is rocky. Our hardwiring is such that we hear these invitations as a demand to “straighten up” or “get our act together.” But it’s not we who needs changing—it’s our crooked path that needs to be smoothed . . . so we can be reached by God’s tenderness. One of the many impediments to hearing the only message God longs to communicate to us is our marriage to the pain we carry and the lament that accompanies it.
