One Day At A Time

A mother was telling her little girl about life on the farm when she was growing up. “I had great fun on the farm,” she said. “I had my own swing made from an old car tire that hung from an oak tree. I had a pony to ride. I used to slide down the haystack in the summer. And when it snowed, I would ride in a sleigh pulled by one of the horses.” The daughter’s eyes lit up as she said to her mother, “I sure wish I had met you sooner.”

The scene in today’s Gospel Lesson takes place at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Earlier, John the Baptist had been questioned by some of the religious leaders about his own identity: Could this be the Messiah? “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” he replied, “make straight the way of the Lord…among you stands one whom you do not know, the thong of whose sandal…