Thanksgiving has quickly come and gone this year, and the Christmas season is most definitely here. Now … I have always been a Thanksgiving purist who firmly believes that the Christmas tree doesn’t go up until after the turkey has been eaten. The pumpkins and fall décor don’t come down until the weekend after Thanksgiving. Then, and only then, can the Christmas season officially begin. After all, it’s about tradition and respect and the individualism of each holiday – at least that’s how it was in my mind … until this year.
My kids were overly ambitious about getting our Christmas decorations up. So much so that my oldest went into the attic himself, got down some of the decorations, and turned his bedroom into a “festival of lights” complete with a rotating LED display. And he did it all before Thanksgiving. Of course, his little sister couldn’t be outdone, so she, too, began decking the walls of her bedroom – before Thanksgiving.
While I certainly wasn’t on board with their premature Christmas spirit (or the mess they made as a result), I sure wasn’t going to be a Scrooge and stifle their excitement with my bah-humbug feelings of how they had disrespected Thanksgiving. Seriously, all I could do was take a deep breath, smile, and say thank you, God … for their hope, their joy, their excitement, and their expectations of what is to come!
In hindsight now, I think it was God’s way of readying my heart for the Advent season. Like He often does, God used my children to teach me a lesson – instead of it being the other way around. I realized this when we began our nightly family Advent devotional readings on Advent Sunday.
Side note: I love observing Advent with my family. We don’t do it perfectly; we probably don’t even do it that well. But we do it, and for that I am grateful. Over the years, we have used different books and resources to guide us through the season. But being the traditionalist that I am, I tend to go back to the ones with which I am most familiar. However, this year we are following a new guide put together by a local church, and it’s wonderful … and simple – a Scripture passage, brief commentary, hymn, and prayer. It’s called the Family Advent Guide 2022 by Lawndale Presbyterian Church in Tupelo, Mississippi. You can download a free digital copy of it here, and I encourage you to do so.
In preparation for our first night of Advent, I always like to remind our children what Advent means. We have done this for years now since they were really young, but it’s always good to be reminded each year about the meaning and purpose of Advent. The guide explained it so well. Read this excerpt to see what I mean:
Advent comes from a Latin word meaning “coming” or “arrival” and has been celebrated within the church for centuries during the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. During Advent, Christians take time to look back and retrace their spiritual history, to step into the shoes of their spiritual predecessors, the Israelites, as they waited centuries for the promised Messiah.
But Advent is also a chance to pause and reflect on our own sin and shortcomings, the brokenness of the world, to feel the weight of creation’s need for a Savior, and to celebrate that this Savior came in the person of Jesus, born as a baby 2,000 years ago.
However, this season does not only cause us to look back but also to look forward to Jesus’ Second Coming. Theologians often describe the time we are in as the Inter-Advent period. We are in between the First Advent when Christ came to us 2,000 years ago and the Second Advent when Christ will return. As we enter into the longing of Israel for the Messiah to come, we are reminded to look forward and to look and long for Christ to return again to make all things new.
When I read this aloud to our family, these words pierced my heart: coming, arrival, celebrate, look forward to, the longing of, to look and long for. Then it hit me. That was the reason for my children putting up their Christmas decorations early. Their hearts were overcome with a longing for Christmas. They couldn’t wait any longer to start celebrating the coming of Christmas because they were looking so forward to its arrival.
Now as children, their desires and motivations stem from the excitement of Christmas morning and the gifts that will await them. There is truly a magical, childlike nostalgia at the root of it all that I pray will one day be triumphed by a longing for Christ in their hearts.
Yet, their excitement and joy and hope move me, personally, to a posture of self-reflection. I can’t help but ask myself: Is my heart longing to celebrate the greatest Gift of all? Am I excited about a Savior who came as a baby and is coming again as victorious king? Am I overcome with a longing for Christ? Do I wait in expectation of Him?
Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
Is Jesus the joy of your longing heart, this Christmas?
