Prepared — A Preparing for Baby Devotional

"I am going to prepare a place for you." ~John 14:2b

I spent most of last week on my knees on the nursery floor, surrounded by instruction sheets, hardware bags, and furniture pieces that didn't obviously connect to anything. Assembly directions for baby items are either perfectly clear or completely baffling — there's no-in-between. At some point I stopped checking the steps and started just staring at what was in front of me, trying to figure out where it all was supposed to go.

By the end of the week, the room looked like a room. The crib was assembled, the dresser was in the corner, and everything was in its place, waiting for someone who isn't here yet.

That's the strange thing about preparing for a baby. You're pouring time and effort and care into a space for a person you haven't fully met. You don't know their personality, their laugh, what will make them cry at 2 a.m. You just know you love them — and so you build.

Jesus used that exact posture to describe what He's doing for us right now.

In John 14:2-3, the night before the crucifixion, He told His disciples: "My Father's house has many rooms... I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me." He said this knowing what the next 24 hours would cost Him. He was hours away from the Cross, and He was thinking about the room.

That's what love does. It prepares before the person arrives.

What This Preparing for Baby Devotional Taught Me About Faith

There's also a definition of faith tucked inside what I was doing last week without realizing it. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Assembling a crib for a child who isn't home yet is exactly that — you act on what you trust is coming. The room becomes a declaration: I believe this is real. I'm getting ready.

Abraham left for a land he had never seen because God said to go. Noah built an ark before a single drop of rain fell. Both men prepared for something they couldn't yet hold in their hands. Both found that God was faithful to what He promised. That's the lesson underneath every preparing for baby devotional — you prepare for what you can't yet see, because you trust the One who promised it.

The room is ready; the person it is for is coming. And the God who "gently leads those that have young" (Isaiah 40:11) has been preparing far longer than you have.

Daily Practice: Find one quiet moment this week to think about something you've put together recently: furniture, a hobby, or even baking a casserole. Thank Jesus for the work He is doing that you will enjoy someday.

Always improve the present moment.