I have always enjoyed the days building up to Christmas, but my outlook has changed since I have grown up. As a child, I looked forward to Christmas morning, when I could open all my presents. As an adult, I am more likely to purchase items for myself when I need them, or they are on sale, rather than wait for a special occasion, such as Christmas or my birthday, when I might receive them as a gift (to the frustration of my wife).
While I now enjoy watching the faces of other people opening presents, I am looking forward to my daughter anticipating Christmas morning as I did as a child. Through her, I regain my sense of expectation.
That sense of expectation is the heart of the season of Advent. In reading the story of the coming of the Savior, we can place ourselves in the mindset of those characters. In so doing, we remember not only that the Savior came, but, more importantly, that the Savior is coming.
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.” – Jeremiah 23:5-6
©2011 Paul Tillman
