Prepare the Way
- Brooke Ramos
- 1 minute ago
- 6 min read
“Sandwich! Sandwich! I said make a Stella sandwich! You’re the bread and she’s the meat!!!!” I huffed and yelled after them while trying to run with my youngest in the running stroller behind my other three girls on their bikes. Gone are the days of telling them to keep up on their scooters. Now I’m begging them to slow down so I can keep up. (To be clear, I did not get slower. They just got bigger and faster.)
My girls came up with the sandwich analogy. When they ride bikes, my 10-year-old Dahlia is the lead bread because she knows her bike safety. My 6-year-old Stella is the meat in the middle, and my 8-year-old Elena is the other bread to be sure Stella doesn’t get left behind. So we dubbed it, “the Stella sandwich.”
The adventures of riding bikes went from striders they could barely sit on to their first big girl bikes with back pedal brakes. Then on to the real deal with shifters and hand brakes at speeds that were thrilling for them and terrifying for me.
The other day we were out for a bike ride and Stella stopped at the corner as I’d taught her to. I jogged up, looked both ways out loud, and then stood halfway in the street to protect her crossing. She started to wig out thinking I was leaving her behind when I jogged into the street ahead of her, so I said, “Tranquila! You really think I’d leave you behind? I’m preparing the way for you.”
John the Baptist has been so wrapped up in my thoughts and studies as of late that I found myself talking like him! In that moment, God made it unmistakably clear that as parents, we are like John the Baptist to our kids. It is our responsibility to prepare their hearts to accept all Jesus has for them. Our first assignment as parents is to teach our children to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Deuteronomy says to impress the commandments on our children, “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” So basically, non-stop, combined, and intertwined with everyday life.
I would be wise to heed John the Baptist’s cries in the desert. Isaiah 40:3-5 says this, “A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’”
It’s a beautiful depiction of preparing one’s heart to accept Christ. We need to get on the straight and narrow path that leads to life. The lowly and humble are the valleys that will be filled by Christ. The hills are those who stand tall in pride who need to be brought down in humility in order to receive Him. We need to be made holy and righteous through Christ’s death on the cross, our crooked paths made straight, and our rough places smoothed with His love, mercy, and grace. This is a choice I have to make daily before God and the one I try to model for my girls.
Teaching my kids to ride their bikes was a modern-day parable come to life for me. I went from carrying a kid and a strider bike home to watching them ride off alone from home. The transitions took time, blood (mostly theirs), sweat, and tears. The seasons of motherhood match these transitions. There were some gnarly crashes in the process and some bad ideas on my part (that hill was grass, but probably still too steep for a new strider, sorry Aurora). When faced with trials (on or off the bike), I sometimes handle them with pride, so we crash and burn. Then I apologize, scoop them up, and we get back on the bike. When they get distracted by shiny things to their right or left and take their eyes off the straight and narrow path before them, they veer off into dangerous territory, i.e. the street and oncoming traffic. When we take our eyes off of Jesus, we too veer into dangerous territory (Matthew 7:13-14, Col. 3:2).
Even though my oldest is riding a bike so big we can share it, I still choose to ride with her most of the time. I might shout out a few warnings like, “Check the driveway!” But I can also confidently let her ride to school alone and trust that she knows her way home. She chose to be baptized over a year ago and declared Jesus as her Lord and Savior. She has taken ownership of her relationship with Jesus, and I support her growth in her personal walk with the Lord. She may know the way home, but that doesn’t mean my job is done. Just because she can ride alone, doesn’t mean she should ride alone. It’s way more fun and safe to ride with your parents, sisters, or good friends.
I may be the example of how to ride, and they follow my lead, but we are all riding toward the same goal together. John the Baptist was preparing the hearts of the people to receive Jesus, just like I’m preparing my kids’ hearts to receive Jesus. John knew it wasn’t about him, and I need to remember it’s not about me. John wasn’t yelling so they would look to him; it was so the people would be ready and willing to accept Jesus when he made himself known. “He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light,” John 1:8.
Like John the Baptist, my job is to reflect the light of Jesus, like the sun hitting a mirror bounces off that mirror and shines wherever you point it. My job is to reflect the light of Jesus onto my girls so they can come to know the source.
So how do I prepare the way for my kids to know Jesus? I live out my faith and my flaws. Just like James said that faith without works is dead (James 2:26), if I am not living out my faith in visible, tangible ways to back up all the words I spew at my kids, those words are going to fall flat on the ground between us. The fact that two spinning wheels can hold up a person in between and not fall over sounds crazy to a kid, but that’s what riding a bike is. When they see me get on a bike and ride around, it doesn’t seem so crazy anymore.
So we make it a point to show up for church on Sunday morning to worship, learn, and fellowship. When I’m making a meal for a new mom or a friend facing hard times, and they ask if they can help, I say, “Yes, but go wash your hands really, really well.” I show up for Bible study disheveled, with a couple of kids, and maybe only having done half the homework. My kids see me accepted as I am by others who love Jesus. I continue to pray at the same Bible study table even though my kid is tugging on me for a snack, so I hold them and make them wait until I am done talking to Jesus. I read my Bible at the dining table and leave it open so they know it’s a priority all day of every day.
The most important thing I do in front of my kids is mess up. I lose my temper. I say harsh words. I dismiss their needs. But it’s what I do after I mess up that matters. This is how I live out the Gospel. None of us, not even the all-knowing mother, is without sin. I’m going to make mistakes because we are all born sinful, but thank you, God, for sending Jesus to die for the forgiveness of our sins.
So now when I sin, I say sorry to the person or child I sinned against and I ask them for forgiveness. And then I turn to Jesus and ask Him for forgiveness, sometimes out loud in front of the child so they see my need for Jesus. Then I pray they remember the times I humbly came before them seeking forgiveness and forget the sin itself.
I prepare the way for my kids by being fully human before them. A sinner like them, but saved by the same Jesus, like they can be. Fully known by God and fully loved.
My husband surprised me by getting an attachment for our youngest so she basically rides tandem with him. So for the first time ever, the six of us were all on wheels and moving at the same pace. It took 10 years for us to get to this point, but we have arrived. We got double takes from almost everyone we passed, which is often how it feels living a life dedicated to following Jesus. But we had the best time and can’t wait to see where we’ll ride together next.
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