I love this season. Days of decorating. Piles of presents to be wrapped. Cookies to be baked. Family. The anticipation. Waiting for Christmas. Waiting for Christ.
My small group has been reading David Platt’s “Follow Me” for the last few weeks. It’s our last book together before we take a break for the holidays. We talked through several chapters together last night and one of my favorite passages was this: “For centuries, all creation longed for a coming King who would conquer all of these things [sin, suffering and death]. That King came in the person of Jesus Christ. During his time on earth, he healed the hurting, delivered the demon possessed, gave sight to the blind, called the lame to walk, and caused the dead to live again. Then he did what no one else in history has done or will ever do again. After his heart flat-lined for three days, he chose to come back to life. He rose from the grave in victory over sin, the devil, and death itself.”
At first glance it might not seem so “Christmas-y”, but when I read that first sentence about creation longing for a coming King, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the meaning of Advent. Arrival. The arrival of a tiny, baby boy. A great and mighty king.
Not only have we been reading through these Advent cards with our girls each day (I’ll be sharing more about how we’re incorporating them into our holiday experience next week), but I’ve been reading the #shereadstruth Advent plan. I’m finding myself barely awake in the mornings, already scrolling through my phone for that day’s reading. The girls are tearing through the house looking for today’s Advent card that our elf hid for them to find.
I’m fighting hard for the message of his arrival not to be lost in packages and appointments. We are filling our December to the brim with celebration and excitement. We’ve already started decking the halls and we’ll probably still be doing that on Christmas Eve. There is no end to the amount of joy I will attempt to squeeze into our home and our hearts. We are gifting and Santa Claus-ing and Elf on the Shelf-ing, too. We are all anticipating this busy, beautiful season. But mostly we are anticipating the coming of Christ.
These are all the lovely photographs that we DIDN’T include on our Christmas card. A huge thanks to my sister for not only taking beautiful pictures, but for helping to wrestle the dog and chase kids and fight the wind and avoid cars and even wave at the police officer who stopped to make sure we were okay. YOU are a rockstar.
