I spent the two days before Christmas enjoying all the fun
the season has to offer. T and I went on our annual Christmas tree lights
drive. I baked and cooked and watched Christmas movies. I wrote cards and
leisurely planned my days.
As a kid, I loved Christmas Eve too.
There is something so magical about the night before
Christmas. The expectation and anticipation.
It is also sort of sad to me too. When the night was over,
it was Christmas and that was the last of the ‘fun’ days of winter break. Life
just went back to normal.
I never wanted the night to end. I remember wanting to sleep
so I could wake up for the gifts and family time, but also wanting to stay
awake and not let the night end. I remember watching the glow of the Christmas
lights on our house through my window and trying to stay awake.
I think about that now. How I often live in excitement and
expectation of things to come. How sometimes I don’t want for that time to end
because I’m afraid it will just be all back to normal…the magic of the upcoming
holiday gone already forgotten.
My hope is that expectation begins to live in my heart all
year long- that I can live in positive and happy anticipation, readying myself
for the next stages of life.
Christmas is meant to be a time of remembrance and
excitement leading up to the birth of Jesus. But it’s not over then.
Jesus is coming back. We should always be living in the
expectation of Him returning. I want the excitement, joy and longing to last
well beyond one night.
It’s funny how the day after Christmas things can seem so
mundane and without light. There is all the built up joy of the lights and the
shopping and the baking and the family and the rushing around for it to all
culminate into a few hours of celebration and then it’s done. The next day you
are left feeling void and sort of hopeless.
But that’s not the truth is it?
Jesus birth was on Christmas but then he was WITH US. He grew into a boy and a man
who eventually died on the cross for you and me. Each day after his birth was a
day of hope and renewal. Each day beyond that baby boy was one of everlasting
peace.
I think it’s so easy to fall back into the trap of the day
after Christmas blues. Back to alarms. Back to work. Back to emails. Meetings.
Bills. Cleaning.
I was surprised at how easily I slipped back into being the
same unfulfilled self. How quickly I was able to forget the joy that is
Christmas.
What if I lived with
that joy in my heart all year? What if I continued to remember the magic of
what Jesus birth means? What if everyday I focused my heart on Him?
Emmanuel.
God With Us.
Jesus With Us.
Just because December 25th passed by doesn’t mean
Jesus left too.
He’s here every day in the alarms, the work, the emails, the
meetings, the bills and the cleanings. He’s in the cold winter morning runs.
He’s in the cloudy snowy skies. He’s in the seemingly endless waiting for this
that and the other to change or ‘go our way.’ He’s in the family discord and
the family love. He’s there for all of it. He’s right beside us. Holding us up.
Cheering us on.
Leading us to Him.
So now that the presents are unwrapped and the food is eaten
and we are all feeling a little ‘over’ the holiday, let’s continue to live in
good anticipation and longing for Jesus.
Emmanuel.
He is With us.
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