Christmas: A Season of Childlike Expectation
Thanksgiving is a wonderful day of family gatherings that requires little in terms of expectations except for preparing wonderful foods we love. Hopefully, for you, food preparations were distributed among many who brought their favorite dishes. The magic of this day is being with those you love as you share your love for one another.
Then comes Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and it feels like we are off to the races that tend to define Christmas preparation for many families. I want to suggest an alternative for us. It will involve having the courage to step off the hamster wheel of Christmas expectations. Are we ready for the challenge? I think we are.
I was listening to a podcast recently, and the host (a Christian therapist) said the angst many feel during Christmas is not due to the expectations we feel. This caught my curiosity as I listened. He said the primary cause of angst during Christmas is that Christmas awakens a stirring inside us for something more. A Scripture like Isaiah 9:6, when thought about, quickens something in us for something deeper, something more:
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
A child is born. A son is given. A good and eternal government rests on his shoulders. We will call him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.
Chew on these words for a moment. Maybe just start with “a child is born.” He came as a child who needed care but who came to bring the greatest care package ever – salvation to all who would place faith in Him. Yet, Jesus needed to be cared for. Think about that. Mary and Joseph entered his world leaving their own behind.
Later in Jesus’ life on earth, he said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Luke 18:17, NLT.
I challenge you to stop right now and ask yourself this question, “How can I adopt a childlike heart attitude toward this Christmas season?” Instead of worrying about the gifts you need to purchase, or that party, or that difficult relative you know is coming over – STOP. How would a childlike approach to these things change your worry into curiosity?
You see, God wants Christmas to stir in you a childlike expectation and curiosity about His Kingdom. He wants to reveal the more your heart is hungering for. I encourage you to give yourself to this hunger for the more of God. Don’t shrink away thinking the more of God is a myth that needs to be hidden in the basement of your heart. No, it is real, and He wants you to seek Him for it. He’s like that favorite relative you had as a child who brought the cool present but held it behind their back until the big reveal. I’m asking you to be courageous. Wait on the Lord this Christmas and see what He reveals to you.
Final thought: If you have children or grandchildren, get down on the floor with them. Look them in the eye and enter their world. Their world doesn’t need presents. It needs your presence. And when you enter their world, you begin to allow the stirring of the more of God into your life. It will be a simple and profound change in your perspective toward Christmas. Go for it, Mom! Go for it, Dad! You’ll be glad you did.