Grace full mama

And just like that, we are back at one of my favourite times of year. While I prefer stretching sun-warmed limbs under rays of saturating sunshine to the cold, I wouldn’t trade an Alberta winter. I love the way that the snow lays like glittering lace over the spruce boughs, and dresses up the poplars. Of course, I absolutely love Christmas. I love the twelve foot tree with white lights that stands in the middle of my house. Once the tree goes up, we do not turn the lights off. They are a reminder to us that the light of the world came for us.

Traditionally, the Israelites celebrated many, many feasts. Some of them lasted a day, some a week, some as long as 50 days! Each feast was a spiritual reset… a time to either remember what God has done, or a time to remember what he will do. We were created for these times of reflection and abundance. We were made for this kind of fellowship and focus, and yet, all most of us have is Christmas. No wonder it calls to our hearts.

Christmas is about anticipation. We moms plan for months. We imagine the looks on our children’s faces Christmas morning. We plan menus and where to put extra people. We bake and wrap, and spend far too much money (sorry honey.) We decorate, take kids to play practices, make ornaments, and focus on joy.

Mary anticipated. Can you imagine? After the angel left her, I wonder if she thought she was crazy? I know my pregnancies didn’t feel real to me until I felt the first flutters of movement in my womb. Mary had time to ponder. She had time to anticipate. Jesus was her first baby, so she was brand new at this mom thing. She didn’t know what to expect. As her belly swelled and moved, she knew that Jesus really was there. She would have been filled with the nervous excitement of any mom before giving birth, anticipating both pain and joy; but Jesus was no ordinary child. Mary didn’t know.

Mary didn’t know if Joseph would stone her or love her. Mary didn’t know if she would give birth on the side of a bandit scourged roadside with a donkey for company. She didn’t know she would deliver with no midwife, only a man who had never been there for a birth in his life and hadn’t seen her intimately prior to that moment to help her. Mary didn’t know how to help a baby latch and nurse. She didn’t know that they would have to flee to Egypt. We always sing “Mary did you know,” but the truth is, she didn’t. Mary didn’t know.

I like to know the ending.

I like to be the one who curates the magic and knows what is inside every box and bag. I like to be the one behind the counter, tasting and mixing and creating and serving.

The truth is, I like to be the one in control. I like to predict exactly what it is that I am anticipating.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:42

Have you ever felt like you are anticipating something, but you aren’t exactly sure what it is?

The Hebrew people waited thousands of years for the Messiah, and when he came he was not at all what they expected. They wanted someone who would come and wreak vengeance on those who held them captive. They wanted a warrior who overturned the Roman Empire and made it the Hebrew Empire. Instead, they received a baby. A baby who grew up into a man who only spoke harshly to crooked Hebrew officials. A man who died a brutal and humiliating death. A saviour who came to save the world from their sins.

Sometimes we are less aware of the fact that we are once again awaiting the Messiah. Christmas isn’t just about remembering when Jesus came to earth the first time, a humble child born beside lambs and donkeys. Christmas is about anticipating morning… anticipating our Messiah coming back.

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe is written KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”

Friends. We don’t know. We don’t know when. We don’t know how. We don’t know what it will be like before he comes back. All we know is that we are starting to feel the flutters, like what Mary felt in her belly.

We know he is coming.

We know that there is both pain and joy ahead of us.

We know that our King is coming and we need to be watching.

This Advent season, remember that we are still like the Hebrews waiting on their deliverer. We hope for the return of our King on his white horse, coming to cut down the evil that is overrunning our nations. We hope for the place that he has prepared for us. We hope to see him face to face.

Even more than on that first Christmas, we have reason to anticipate.

May the hope of the return of the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS wash over you as you prepare this time of feasting. May your hearts remember the reason behind all of the gifts, food, lights and beauty.

Keep your eyes to the skies and your heart fixed on the King, that you might be ready!